CHICAGO -- Reflecting on the performance, each of Yoshi Tsutsugo's failed at-bats Monday at Wrigley Field stung a little deeper for the Pirates.
In the second inning, he failed to get a runner home from third base with less than two outs. In the fourth, he grounded out to strand a runner on base.. In the seventh and ninth, he batted leadoff, but failed to get anything going.
Those missed opportunities played a role in the Pirates' 3-2 loss to the Cubs Monday.
It's been a rough season for Tsutsugo, who is slashing .173/.254/.235 with two home runs and 18 RBIs over 185 plate appearances this season. It's fair to speculate exactly how much more runway Tsutsugo has before the Pirates make a change, especially since his performance is one of the worst for a Pirate hitter this season. Let's do a deep dive on some data:
• Going since the start of the live ball era in 1920, only five Pirates finished a season with at least as many plate appearances as Tsutsugo (185) and a slugging percentage of .235 or lower. From Stathead:
• Tsutsugo has recently been bumped from the cleanup spot, a role he has served most of the season. Of his 185 PAs, 98 have come in the leadoff hitter. His OPS as a cleanup hitter this year is .455. The last hitter to have an OPS that low over that many PAs as a cleanup hitter in a season was Greg Vaughn of the Devil Rays in 2002 (.403).
Derek Shelton said the Pirates would reevaluate Tsutsugo's spot in the lineup after the penultimate series before the All-Star break against the Marlins, and the left-hander has batted in different areas since then. He batted sixth and was the designated hitter Monday.
• Most of his at-bats have come while he was in the lineup as a first baseman, though. In the Live Ball era, only two first basemen (players who have received the majority of their playing time at that position) have posted a sub.-500 OPS: George Scott of the Red Sox in 1968 and Al Lakeman in 1947 (min. 185 PAs). Tsutsugo could be the third.
• Over his last 12 games, Tsutsugo is 6-for-47 with one walk and one double. His win probability added (WPA) in his 11 games before Monday was -0.44, according to Baseball Reference, meaning his individual contributions greatly hurt the Pirates' chances of winning during that stretch.
This offseason, the Pirates wanted to explore a multi-year contract with Tsutsugo, but he wanted to sign a one-year, prove it deal. He got what he wanted, but it may have hurt him in the long run, because now there is little perceived upside for him to succeed with the Pirates. The odds of him attracting a trade partner before the August 2 deadline seem to be nill. Even a strong finish like last year won't mask his struggles to this point of the season.
The Pirates don't have a clear DH at the moment, and Tsutsugo's performance is part of the reason why there is not much clarity at the position.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Oneil Cruz's defense has been a pleasant surprise since being promoted to the majors. On Monday, he was charged with a costly error in the eighth inning that ultimately cost the Pirates the game, though it was not entirely his fault.
With one out and nobody on, Seiya Suzuki bounced a ball to shortstop, and while Cruz's throw was a bit off target, it seemed to be well within Michael Chavis' range, but the first baseman failed to snag it:
"That's a ball we've got to catch," Shelton said. "That ball is in the air and it's not errant off the bag. It's a little bit to the right. It's a ball we need to catch."
"I've got one job over there, and it's to catch the ball," Chavis said. "I've got to do a better job of catching it. Sometimes his ball cuts, but I've caught how many throws of his at this point? I know it cuts like that. It was just one of those situations where I knew it was going to run a little bit, strode to the right and it just ran off my glove. So either I need to stretch a little further, go a little more right or just do something to help him out. He's working over there to the right, going away from his body and everything like that, so it's just a tough play.
"Damn, man, I've got to do a better job helping him out on that."
Suzuki would later come home on a Nico Hoerner double off of rookie Yerry De Los Santos, breaking a 2-2 standstill. Cruz opened the scoring with an RBI single in the second as part of his multi-hit day, but the error played the biggest impact in the decision.
Chavis said that he immediately took ownership of the mistake when the two went to the mound during a mound visit.
"It just sucks man," Chavis said. "It sucks."
• JT Brubaker was shaky early, allowing a couple runs and plenty of hard contact over the first three innings. He settled in from there, though, going six-plus innings with just those two runs on his ledger.
"Trying to get back to a rhythm of how the ball’s moving and where you need to start it," Brubaker said when asked if he found something as the start progressed. "Not so much pitch selection but pitch location, where I need to start, how I want it to finish. Just getting back in the groove of feeling that consistency of, ‘If I throw this pitch, I know I’m going to land it here.’ "
With that performance, Brubaker's season ERA dipped to 3.96. Over his last 11 starts, he has allowed 22 earned runs over 64 innings pitched (3.09 ERA).
"After having that long break, you’re always weary of where your mechanics might be," Brubaker said. "Bullpen went good leading up to this. Kind of just rolled out with the same mentality of trying to fill up the zone, using the two-seam to both sides."
• Former Pirate farmhand Adrian Sampson went seven innings for the Cubs Monday. Consider it a revenge game for the player the club traded to the Mariners in 2015 for J.A. Happ.
• Last season, Ben Gamel made one of the best catches of his career at Wrigley Field, a diving grab back and to his right.
On Monday, he did it again:
The Flying Gamel is back!! pic.twitter.com/0E8MCQpwL2
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 26, 2022
"Honestly, you don’t really have time to think," Gamel said. "You kind of react. It’s [put your] head down, ran to a spot and got lucky as s---."
'It was definitely a spectacular play," Brubaker said. "Gamel loves to make spectacular plays here at Wrigley."
"A lot of similarities," Gamel said. "Very thankful this one was on the grass and not the track."
• Before the game, the Pirates activated Bryan Reynolds off the 10-day injured list
“If I didn’t feel ready, I wouldn’t push to get back, but I feel ready and confident,” Reynolds said.
To make room on the roster, Jake Marisnick was placed on the 10-day injured list with a sprained right great toe. That is retroactive to July 24.
Marisnick felt some discomfort during the Pirates' series against the Rockies right before the All-Star break, and it bothered him again enough once games resumed last weekend to place him on the shelf again.
“Obviously, when you’re playing well, you want to stay out there,” Marisnick said. “Anytime. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing well or playing bad, it’s just anytime you have to take the time off, it sucks. At the same time, I’m not doing anybody favors playing if I’m not playing at 100 percent.”
Shelton said Reynolds' activation was not due to Marisnick needing to go on the IL, and they were prepared to make a roster move if Reynolds wasn't ready.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: OF Jake Marisnick (great toe)
• 15-day injured list: RHP Chase De Jong (knee)
• 60-day injured list: OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery) RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Josh VanMeter, 2B
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
4. Ben Gamel, LF
5. Michael Chavis, 1B
6. Yoshi Tsutsugo, DH
7. Oneil Cruz, SS
8. Cal Mitchell, RF
9. Tyler Heineman, C
And for David Ross' Cubs:
1. Rafael Ortega, CF
2. Willson Contreras, C
3. Seiya Suzuki, RF
4. Ian Happ, LF
5. Nico Hoerner, SS
6. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
7. Frank Schwindel, DH
8. Alfonso Rivas, 1B
9. Christopher Morel, 2B
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates and Cubs will conclude the abbreviated two-game series and road trip Tuesday at 2:20 p.m. Eastern. Bryse Wilson (1-5, 6.52) will try to stay hot against Keegan Thompson (7-4, 3.43). I'll be there for it.
THE CONTENT
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