For the second game in a row, the Pirates battled back from an early deficit to take the lead or tie the game. But, for the second game in a row, the Pirates failed to walk away with a victory.
The Pirates lost Sunday's rubber match against the Diamondbacks by a lopsided 8-3 final score. But, the Pirates' performance in the field was perhaps more ugly than the numbers in the run column.
"We didn't play well defensively today," Derek Shelton said. "We made a couple of careless errors that cost us a run. We’ve got to do a better job of catching the ball because, number one, you do that, and then they're really athletic so they're going to take extra bases, whether it's stealing or because of our miscues."
The Pirates' ugly performance is perfectly encapsulated with the five wild pitches and three errors in the box score. It's difficult to win games when that many mistakes are made, and the Diamondbacks were advantageous enough to capitalize on nearly every mistake, especially in key moments.
After Arizona starter Merrill Kelly had a series of mistakes that allowed the Pirates to tie the game, 1-1, in the second inning, Roansy Contreras had two costly wild pitches. The first came after a leadoff double by Jose Herrera, allowing him to reach third base. Contreras bounced back with two quick outs, but then walked Corbin Carroll to put runners on the corners. Because Herrera was on third instead of second, Carroll took advantage of the double steal threat and stole second base without a throw, increasing the pressure.
Contreras got ahead of Christian Walker 0-2 and tried to get him to chase a slider in the dirt, but Jason Delay was unable to pick it, allowing Herrera to score easily from third:
The Diamondbacks later added to their lead, pulling ahead in the fifth inning, 3-1. The Pirates answered with some resiliency and battled back with three straight hits in the home half of the frame to tie the game.
But, once again, mistakes cost the Pirates dearly. After Dauri Moreta started the sixth inning with a strikeout, Ke'Bryan Hayes had an uncharacteristic error at third base, allowing Walker to reach and advance to second base. Facing Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Moreta jammed him on a pitch far inside that actually stayed fair after drawing contact on a check swing. Gurriel froze in the batter's box while Moreta got a good jump on the weak grounder and had more than enough time to record the second out of the inning.
Instead, Moreta's throw sailed over a leaping Carlos Santana, allowing the go-ahead run to score:
It's one thing for the opposing team to earn their way back ahead on the scoreboard. It's something else entirely to just give it away. Shelton is typically diplomatic with his answers regarding his team's performances, especially in defeat. However, he wasn't shy about how frustrating it was to lose the lead in that fashion.
"It was extremely frustrating to me because we made two careless errors," Shelton said. "We made a careless error because we didn't move our feet, which you very rarely see Key do. And then I think Moreta just rushed. He jams Gurriel, so he's so far back in the box that all he has to do is pick up the ball and make a solid throw. We don't complete either one of those plays. It changes not only the whole course of the game, but it changes how you use your pitching from there on out."
The game fell off the rails after that as the Diamondbacks added three runs with two outs in the seventh inning, then added another in the eighth. In review, there was plenty of blame to go around. On top of the three errors, Contreras was, once again, erratic with his fastball. That made Delay's job much more difficult behind the plate. Shelton admitted that a couple of the wild pitches could have been blocked, but there wasn't one or two to blame for this loss. It was just an all-around poor team performance.
"We had a couple of balls that should have been blocked and we had a couple of balls that we just missed location by three feet," Shelton said. "That's not on Jason when he sets up middle and we miss away; that's really tough. But overall, defensively, we can't play like that and expect to win games."
With the Pirates now only two games over .500 at 24-22, things don't get easier from here. The Rangers head to town for a three-game series that begins Monday night at PNC Park, and they lead Major League Baseball in runs scored and welcomed Corey Seager back into their deep lineup this past week. Mitch Keller won't pitch in this series, so the Pirates don't have much time to clean things up.
