Over the last two days, the Pirates haven't exactly benefitted from any newfound momentum following their 12-run throttling of the visiting Mets Friday night. An offense that accumulated 16 hits and matched a franchise record with seven home runs in front of an electric sellout crowd at PNC Park has once again gone cold.
This latest showing in a 3-2 loss to the Mets Sunday afternoon was similar to that of Saturday when the now 42-47 Pirates mustered six hits and two runs on a massive river-bound home run by Oneil Cruz. This time around, they matched that six-hit total in spoiling a strong start from Luis Ortiz and suffering their 20th loss when a starting pitcher goes at least six innings.
There were two slivers of positivity in the second of back-to-back lackluster offensive performances. A struggling Ke'Bryan Hayes enjoyed a much-needed two-hit performance and a three-hit eighth inning was highlighted by this go-ahead two-run single from Nick Gonzales:
Nick Gonzales for the lead! pic.twitter.com/gGghg3D8Wh
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 7, 2024
Other than those two bright spots, there wasn't much else for the Pirates to hang their hat on against Mets starter Sean Manaea and three relievers, including closer Edwin Diaz who blew the save before eventually picking up the win following a blown save by Aroldis Chapman.
The Pirates' only other legitimate opportunity to score came in the second inning when Hayes reached on an error and was eventually stranded on third. The lack of offense even got to a point where Joey Bart tried to be aggressive and get things going with one out in the fifth inning by trying to stretch a single into a double on a ball he lined down the left-field line. A strong throw from Jeff McNeil cut him down at second to ensure the momentum didn't shift in the home team's favor.
When asked about the lack of offense on this particular afternoon, Derek Shelton immediately lauded Manaea's performance. He limited the Pirates to two hits and walked three with six strikeouts over six scoreless inning.
"Manaea’s sweeper today was really good," Shelton said. "He scattered the ball the first two innings. Didn’t have a lot of command. Then he got a feel for the sweeper. I think that was the difference."
But the the offensive inconsistencies the Pirates have experienced throughout the season aren't just based on the prowess of opposing pitchers. Yes, it's not an easy task to consistently produce against pitchers at the major-league level, but this offense is ending up on the losing end of battles quite frequently. The offensive rankings tell the story, as the Pirates sit amongst Major League Baseball's bottom eight teams in categories such as batting average (.230), OPS (.665), hits (693), hits per game (7.81), runs (362) and runs per game (4.09). They're also among the top-five teams in baseball with 837 strikeouts -- a number that grew with yet another double-digit strikeout performance Sunday.
Adding on to that, the Pirates have frequently been plagued by mistakes on the basepaths and frequent failures in executing small-ball oriented plays. An example of the former was Gonzales being picked off of second base following a double he hit in Saturday's loss. This latest defeat provided an instance in which the latter was on display, as Michael A. Taylor laid down three straight unsuccessful bunt attempts in an effort to get a runner into scoring position with nobody out and the Pirates trailing by one in the eighth inning.
"We have to execute there, and we didn’t," Shelton said, adding praise for the way the offense eventually bounced back in their most productive inning of the game. "We need to get that down, but we bounced back. We just have to finish the game."
Another key component, and perhaps the most important in the eyes of Shelton when it comes to the offensive woes, surrounds the number of missed opportunities that continue to haunt this team. After leaving six runners on base and going 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position on Sunday, the Pirates have stranded an average of 6.99 runners on base per game, the sixth-highest total among MLB teams. They're around the middle of the pack in terms of runners left in scoring position per game (3.42) and sport one of the league's worst team batting averages -- ranked 27th at .225 -- with runners in scoring position. They've also totaled 211 strikeouts with runners in scoring position, the third-highest total in baseball.
"We have to execute with runners in scoring position," Shelton said in response to a question I asked regarding the key component to generating more offense and scoring more runs consistently. "I think that’s the biggest thing. We’ve struggled with that a little bit over the last few months."
On a given night, it seems as if it's uncertain which offensive team will show up. Will it be the one that scored 14 runs on 16 hits in backing Paul Skenes' masterful performance on Friday night, or will it resemble the group that has generated four runs on 12 hits over the course of two straight losses that have pushed them back to 4.5 games behind the Padres for the second wild card spot in the National League?
"I think if we just continue to do what we're doing, the work, I think we're eventually going to hit on all cylinders," Gonzales said. "It's kind of the game right now. Tough pitchers and everything, but I think as we keep moving forward, I think we'll be fine."
