These games don't get lost:
CONNOR JOE GIVES THE PIRATES A 4-3* LEAD
— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) June 9, 2024
2-RBI TRIP-TRIP-TRIPLE pic.twitter.com/JZrfFZr8Of
Not by teams good enough to contend, anyway.
That's Connor Joe with a two-out, two-strike, two-run triple to leapfrog into the lead in the fifth inning on this summery Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. Pulled into the Notch on an outer-corner changeup, no less. Seriously sweet stuff.
And how about his sizzling celebration upon reaching third base?
"Big moment there," he'd reply later when I brought that up. "Big moment for all of us."
Not for long: Twins 11, Pirates 5 in 10 innings.
It was good to get it to extras, with Jared Jones bouncing back from another early struggle ... but not good enough.
It was good to have a 4-2 homestand ... but, with blowout losses in each series finale being tagged onto some gas-can minor-league pickup named Ben Heller, not good enough.
It was good to take 2 of 3 from three winning teams in the Braves, Dodgers and now the Twins ... but, when wrapped around losing 2 of 3 in Toronto, not good enough to get back to .500, now at 31-34.
All of which leaves the Pirates last in the Central ...
MLB
... and yet, only a half-game back in the wild-card view:
MLB
Good. Not good enough. Not when so much more already could've been done to put them in better position since, last I've checked, the wins/losses now count the same as those in September.
Want to talk about the Sunday game?
OK, but I care about that about as much as Ben Cherington did, apparently. Unless anyone can concoct another way to explain the Pirates going with a bullpen game Saturday, somehow stealing a W despite using a half-dozen relievers, then entering the Sunday game with ... uh, hey, who forgot to call Indianapolis?
No, really, Derek Shelton's got his flaws as field manager, but I'm not about to flame him for losing in 10 when he's left with ... hang on, where's that list again? ... Kyle Nicolas, Justin Bruihl, Hunter Stratton, his only regular in Aroldis Chapman, and then the execrable Heller, who was Shelton's literal last arm available, as he'd acknowledge afterward. There were four relievers -- four! -- deemed unavailable to Shelton beforehand by the medical staff.
Once more with gusto: FOUR!
Why not, with a scheduled day off Monday, bring up a Class AAA starter?
Or big-league-ready Jose Hernandez, who'd go multiple innings for Indy at the same time this game was going on?
Was the game just not that important to mess with a 40-man roster that's still showing Heller's name as I type this?
So, no, I don't care about Sunday, at least not as much as about the team's general trajectory with or without the help of capable management. I'm not worried about any blown ump calls, as they're part and parcel. I'm not worried about Jones, whose persistence and poise keep impressing. I'm not worried about any of the starters, outside those that don't exist on a given day. I'm not worried about the back-end bullpen guys, with Chapman, Colin Holderman and David Bednar all bringing it of late. I'm not worried about the main bats, with Andrew McCutchen and Nick Gonzales still scorching and, on this day, timely hits from both Joe and Bryan Reynolds. Heck, even the Rowdy Tellez revival seems real, as the big man went 2 for 3 with a walk the day after having his name chanted rather than taken in vain.
It looks, for the most part, good.
Just not ... oh, you know.
I had a healthy talk with Joe after this game, one that went well beyond that hit. More to the state of the team before flying out to St. Louis and Denver.
“It’s a tough loss today," he'd say, pretty much without prompting and staring straight into the stall. He's like that when keeping it real. "But I think if you take a step back after we decompress, there’s a lot to be happy about, right? Last two homestands: Against the Braves, we went 2-1, a really good team. The Dodgers, 2-1, a really good team. The Twins, another good ballclub over there, 2-1. Obviously sweeps are great, and we want to finish the series when we’ve got them on the ropes. But yeah, when we take a step back, enjoy tomorrow’s off day, there’s a lot to be happy about."
He paused, glanced up my way, then right back into the stall and right back into the thought chain.
"We’re playing really good baseball, man. Starting pitching's doing their job, keeping us in every single game. Our offense is coming around. We’re getting big hits. The bullpen’s been solid. Our back end has been really good. The guys in the middle are coming around. I don’t think there’s any wavering belief within this clubhouse, and I don’t think there was when we were scuffling."
He was referring to the 5-17 falloff after the 9-2 start.
"How it was early in the season, we knew things needed to be addressed and things needed to be cleaned up, but there was no wavering of trust or belief within each other. There might have been outside this room, but within the room is it’s been solid.”
And now?
"We're getting there."
I wouldn't disagree. But I'd also put forth, for maybe the millionth time, that it won't happen without management being at least half as invested as those in uniform. It's a for-real good group. It's got for-real good talent. But when I'm repeating that it's not good enough, I'm looking toward 115 Federal more than anywhere else:
• The middle relief doesn't need help as much as it needs an enema. That won't happen from within. And it won't happen with the standard, Cherington-style scrap-heap acquisitions. Find actual big-league pitchers. They're out there, and they're never that expensive unless they're in closer or setup roles, which obviously aren't needs here.
• I don't know how to fix Henry Davis, but it doesn't take much to see that the kid's recent stretch in Indy didn't do it. He's 1 for 12 with eight strikeouts since his return, including this flail at a Cole Sands changeup that might've been bound for the Minnesota dugout ...
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) June 9, 2024
... on this day that'd see him go 0 for 2 with a walk and get replaced with a .167-hitting pinch-hitter, Yasmani Grandal, with the score tied in the eighth inning.
• I don't know how to fix Jack Suwinski, but it doesn't take much to see that he'll still happily look at strike three before wondering why the ump didn't bail him out:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) June 9, 2024
There aren't holes in this lineup as much as there are Norwegian-scale fjords. And those solutions, as with the relief, won't happen from within.
I don't think it'll take much. Part with a pitching prospect or two from a system that's legitimately boasting a handful. Part with cash, better yet, from an owner who's holding more than a fistful. Do something befitting the scene. Recognize and grasp having a rotation like this, having a prospect like Paul Skenes in the here and now.
I want to look up. I want to buy in. I want to believe.
But for now, my friends, this is what it'll keep looking like when management's contributing ... not much and, really, not anything.
• I'm flying to London later Monday night on our blessed Pittsburgh-Heathrow nonstop via British Airways, then on to Serbia, where I'll spend six days visiting extended family.
So, farewell to the best place on the planet ...
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
First inning of Pirates-Twins, Sunday afternoon at PNC Park.
... and to you for a little while.
• Thanks for reading. Be good. Or, better yet, be good enough.
• Thanks for listening, too:
