OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Pirates' winning formula has been quite simple this season: Score more than four runs and odds are a victory will be the final outcome. The proof is in the team's 12-1 record when doing so.
Their losing formula is just as simple. Now, after a disheartening 5-1 loss to the Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum Monday night, the 14-16 Pirates have just two wins in 17 games in which they've scored four runs or less.
Needless to say, when new lows are experienced and things aren't clicking offensively, stretches of losing baseball occur.
"We've gotta figure out a way to get out of it," said Derek Shelton, whose team mustered just two singles and a lone run on a first-inning wild pitch to lose for the seventh time in 10 games. "We have to have more consistent at-bats. We put ourselves in position early in the game to score, to break the game open, and we did not. We have to keep working. We have to figure out how we need to get going."
The Pirates entered this game 21st among Major League Baseball's 30 teams in both batting average (.236) and runs scored (115), as well as having the sixth-most strikeouts (276) and being amongst the worst in extra-base hit percentage (5.8%).
The offensive deficiencies have plagued the group for weeks, but this time around it included a season-low hit total and one run, making it seven games this season in which they scored one or less. Six of those have occurred in the last two weeks. Two have been during this West Coast trip.
"I feel like early when we played Miami and Washington, we still weren't really playing the best baseball we could have played," said Ke'Bryan Hayes, who had one of the Pirates' hits Monday night. "I feel like they were just making a little more mistakes than we were. But yeah, we were able to get some big hits and we were pushing across a lot of runs, getting guys on every inning. Getting guys in scoring position every inning and ultimately that makes it tough on them. Just got to figure out how to get guys on. I mean maybe, use bunts more, get guys into scoring position, make it a little harder on the pitcher and on the defense."
Things didn't get much easier in the series opener against the A's and starting pitcher Joe Boyle, who entered with a 7.06 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP in five starts.
Hayes led off the game with a single to right field, setting a positive tone for an inning that also included walks to Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen to load the bases. Hayes ended up scoring on a wild pitch thrown by Boyle, but the bats failed to add on as a strikeout to Jack Suwinski and a flyout off the bat of Jared Triolo ended the threat of additional runs crossing home plate.
From then on, offense was almost non-existent in an eight-inning scoreless performance that put some of the dreadful showings of the past to shame. Three walks followed over the next six innings, but in two of those occasions, the baserunners were wiped out by double plays. Only one hit -- a ninth-inning bouncer up the middle by Oneil Cruz -- followed the one by Hayes.
Boyle threw just 45 of 91 pitches for strikes and ended up walking four batters and striking out four. Still, he did his job in limiting the Pirates before Dany Jimenez and Michael Kelly combined to toss four scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
"Tonight, we just weren't able to piece it together," Hayes would say. "I mean, we'd get some walks and we'd kind of hit a ball right to them and they'd turn two. We had that a couple times. After the first inning, we were able to get a run in pretty cleanly, pretty quick. Kind of after that, we weren't able to keep the line moving. I feel like we hit a few balls where we just missed them and they happened to go right to them. Nights like that, you got to figure out, find a way. I think the starter, he didn't really pitch to where he should have went that long in the game. He was behind a lot. Walked quite a few. So with a guy like that, you got to figure out either how to get him out of the game quicker or be able to capitalize on his mistakes."
So, aside from the seven strikeouts, seven flyouts and three inning-killing double plays, what led to the inability to collect hits and put runs on the board? Was it the passive approach, albeit somewhat effective when facing a walk-prone pitcher like Boyle, that led to 29 called strikes?
"No. I mean, we walked. We've got to swing at the right pitches," Shelton said. "There were times we did not get aggressive. We had some opportunities because of the fact that they didn't put the ball on the plate, and then when they did, we did not stay aggressive. So we're in a situation right now where we have to figure out a better approach. It's a little bit of taking ownership, every game in their approach, and then just collectively building off of it. Right now, we're in a little bit of a rut where we need to figure out a spark. We need a basehit that falls. We need something to go through to get us going."
As the Pirates collectively faltered through nine innings, the Athletics manufactured runs in different ways through five against Bailey Falter. He allowed a first-inning homer to Tyler Nevin before back-to-back fourth-inning hits by Brent Rooker and Abraham Toro were followed by sacrifice flies from Shea Langeliers and Max Schuemann. Esteury Ruiz doubled in a run in the fifth and Nevin added another RBI on a sac fly to cap the scoring.
Falter admitted he left too many fastballs in the heart of the zone, but it was a rare rough outing for a pitcher who has been as consistent as any other within the Pirates' starting rotation.
"I know Bailey gave up some runs today, but you look back at this road trip, and even before that, and we've thrown the ball well," Shelton said. "Offensively, we just need to get it going."
Pitching hasn't been the issue, especially as of late, for a team that is currently in a bit of an early-season spiral after starting the year with a 9-2 record. Still, they're two games under the .500 and 4.5 games behind the first-place Cubs in the National League Central. There is certainly time to figure things out from an offensive perspective. If you ask the players, they're confident that will eventually happen.
“I've got nothing but trust in these guys," Falter said. "We’re not really clicking on all cylinders right now, but it’s still early in the year and we’re gonna get it figured out and we’re gonna be great. Can’t blame the offense too much when I’m giving up five runs in five innings. I just got a be a little bit better and maybe we’ll kickstart something next time.”
