When the Pirates were on their winning streak in April, the offense was a big reason why. However, a streak of 11 straight quality starts and lockdown performances out of the bullpen were a key reason for that too. The Pirates were hitting and pitching. That's why they were untouchable.
Now, an embarrassing 10-1 loss to the Rockies on Tuesday night at PNC Park put the Pirates right back in the loss column. But, don't be mistaken, the reason the Pirates have lost eight of their last nine games has much more to do with the lack of offense than a lack of pitching.
If it weren't for Mitch Keller singlehandedly snapping the seven-game skid with his first career shutout in Monday night's 2-0 win, this article might be focused on a nine-game losing streak.
There's no other way to put it: The offense has fallen off a cliff. The lineup mustered only four hits on the night and went an abysmal 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. That lone hit drove in the only run of the game.
Here's a look at Andrew McCutchen driving in Ke'Bryan Hayes to tie the game, 1-1, in the third inning. Enjoy it, because sights like these are coming few and far between nowadays:
Over the past nine games, the Pirates have allowed 54 runs, which isn't great whatsoever. Six runs per game won't get the job done. However, the offense has provided only 12 runs during that stretch. That's only 1.33 runs per game. Given the fact that the lineup has much more of a veteran presence this season, that is an alarming number that has to be fixed, one way or another.
"Yeah, I think it's natural when you're not scoring runs to put pressure on yourself to try to do a little bit too much," Derek Shelton said after the game.
Whatever the case is, it needs to be fixed. When the Pirates went on a seven-game winning streak in April, they batted .359 with runners in scoring position. And in the five games after that, they bumped that number up to .374 over a 12-game stretch. What makes it even more impressive is they had multiple hits in these spots in all but two of those games. It makes it a lot easier to go 11-1 when the lineup is raking in high-leverage spots.
Since that time, the Pirates have gone 1-8 and batted just .125 (7 for 56) with runners in scoring position. And, as previously mentioned, the only reason for that lone victory was because of the Pirates' ace, not because of the offense. One big swing from Rodolfo Castro in that game didn't cure the problems at the plate.
"This sounds really elementary, but we need a hit. We need that hit to break it open," Shelton said when I asked him how the offense gets out of this slump. "Again, we had opportunities again tonight and just did not execute. It's something that we're focusing on, talking about, but we need a couple balls to get in the outfield grass that kind of relieves that pressure a little bit."
It's one thing for a young lineup with little-to-no veteran leadership trying to figure out how to navigate their way out of a slump this bad. Anyone who watched the 2022 Pirates saw it firsthand. It's something else when this team was hammering the ball all over the ballpark just a week and a half ago. Naturally, this begs the question: How did this swing from one extreme to the other?
"Early on in the season, what we were doing really well was hitting a lot of singles, taking a lot of walks, not trying to do too much," Hayes told me. "Every now and then, of course, some guys would hit one out or hit a bases-clearing double. I think where we were killing teams and wearing guys down was whenever we were just doing more small ball -- singles, walks. Just everyone sticking to their zone and the plan we had that day for the pitcher."
As Hayes was explaining this to me after Tuesday night's loss, it reminded me of what Bryan Reynolds said right after the Pirates were swept in Tampa: "I don’t think there’s any panic going on. It’s just kind of how baseball goes, the ebbs and flows of it. We’ve got to get back to our baseball, work the counts, get on base, steal, timely hitting. That kind of stuff."
"Back to our baseball" is exactly what Hayes described -- pretty much nickel-and-diming the opposition to death. And, maybe Shelton's right. This offense is spiraling because the pressure is on to turn this around quickly. But, as it always is with this game, trying to do too much seldom works.
"We need to execute that a little better," Hayes told me. "I feel like we've been kind of giving away a lot of at-bats, especially with guys on base. We've just gotta find a way to not do too much, just put the ball in play and take our walks."
Now, outside of Keller's dominance, the pitching has regressed as well during this stretch. Johan Oviedo and Roansy Contreras turned in rough starts over the weekend, and Chase De Jong let the Blue Jays pull away with a five-spot in the ninth inning in Sunday's loss to Toronto.
But, there have been three winnable games during this nine-game stretch. Two of the losses in Tampa were by three or fewer runs, and pitching staff allowed only four runs in the opener of the series against Toronto.
The defense hasn't helped the pitching staff either. Keller's start in Tampa gave him four unearned runs due to errors, and an unfortunate throw that caromed off Elias Díaz's hand in an attempt to turn a double play in the fourth inning on Tuesday night gave Luis Ortiz three unearned runs in his first start of the season:
Ortiz was unable to stop the bleeding in that inning as the Rockies put up four runs, but hat's expected of a young pitcher. It's just part of the maturing process. But then, the bullpen pulled another De Jong as the Rockies put up a five-spot in the seventh to put this one away.
Yes, the pitching and the defense has regressed. No question about it. But, a regression is not a full-blown swing from pummeling the opposition with runners in scoring position to becoming completely incapable of getting a hit.
The Pirates have brought up Chris Owings to help with the defense at shortstop. They selected the contract of Josh Palacios, who was raking at Class AAA Indianapolis, to help them better take advantage of matchups. The Pirates seem to be willing to use their farm system to help them win now. Maybe if things get bad enough, they'll turn to a former first overall pick that hammered two more home runs with Class AA Altoona on Tuesday night.
Even amid this very poor stretch, the Pirates are still 21-16 on the season. It'd be an awful shame to waste such a good start to the season by not finding a way out of this slump on offense. And, as long as the Pirates fail at the plate, they will continue to lose games.
The good teams find ways to avoid the extremes in the baseball season's ebbs and flows. It's about time they figure their way out of this one.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 15-day injured list: RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow), Rob Zastryzny (elbow)
• 60-day injured list: 1B Ji-Man Choi (Achilles), RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Jack Suwinski, CF
6. Josh Palacios, RF
7. Jason Delay, C
8. Tucupita Marcano, SS
9. Ji Hwan Bae, 2B
And for Bud Black's Rockies:
1. Charlie Blackmon, DH
2. Randal Grichuk, CF
3. Kris Bryant, RF
4. C.J. Cron, 1B
5. Elias Diaz, C
6. Ryan McMahon, 3B
7. Jurickson Profar, LF
8. Harold Castro, 2B
9. Ezekiel Tovar, SS
THE SCHEDULE
The rubber match of this three-game series will take place tomorrow. Rich Hill (3-3, 4.54) will take the ball for the Pirates, squaring off against Colorado right-hander Antonio Senzatela (0-1, 1.80). First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 p.m. DK will have you covered.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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