The Pirates failed to produce multiple runs tonight in their 2-1 loss to the Padres at PNC Park, something that has happened often during their 12-22 start. 

So, why was Oneil Cruz -- a dynamic base-stealer who leads Major League Baseball with 14 and has yet to be thrown out -- anchored to first base in the second inning with runners at the corners and two outs?

Derek Shelton was asked about that and gave rare insight into his decision-making:

“You're also dealing with guys in the middle of the field that throw really well. If you watch the play, Manny Machado's standing almost right on top of Jared Triolo there, so that leads to less of a break," Shelton said. "Then you're talking a starting pitcher that's running about a 1.1, 1.2, and a guy behind the plate that can really throw. Even though Oneil’s 14 for 14, there has to be obvious situations in terms of where you're going to get. Now, if Manny vacates there and he's off, then maybe they're not throwing and maybe you have a situation. But with Manny standing where he's at, with Bryan Reynolds at the plate, you could be running into a bad situation. And then you run into that situation, you get an out. The flip side of your question could have been: Why don't you let Bryan hit in that situation? So, there's a lot of factors that go into that. Where the third baseman plays is a huge factor, and then what the pitcher's timing is and then the guy behind the plate comes into play, also.”

The end result of that sequence was Reynolds grounding out to third base as Triolo and Cruz became the third and fourth of 10 baserunners that were left on base.

• Cruz also tied a career high with four walks. It's something he's only accomplished twice in his career with the first coming on March 29 in Miami. He'd walked three times in a game once before in his career. He's walked 10 times in his past seven games.

His plate discipline is improving as he's spoken about being focused on swinging at balls in the strike zone and chasing less pitches. His strikeout-percentage has dropped three points compared to last year and his walk-percentage has nearly doubled, improving from 8.5% to 15.5%, a mark that is in the top 9% of the majors.

"We're seeing him mature as a hitter both right and left," Shelton said. "You're seeing him having just more consistent at-bats and not going out of the zone. When he is going in the zone, he's taking aggressive swings."

• The Pirates also hit into two double plays and now lead the majors in that category with 34, or three more than the next closest team. It's been a problem all season as it has ended innings when they seemed primed to put runs on the board.

"The obvious answer would be too many balls on the ground," Shelton said when that came up. "But overall, no, I don't think there's anything that’s led to that. I mean we've tried to execute some hit-and-runs. We maybe have to continue to do that depending on the situation, depending on who's pitching. But yeah, it's just something I don't have a good answer for why that stat is so high.”