Pirates now 3-13 vs. winning teams, and that's no accident
With one out in the fifth inning of the Pirates' 9-4 loss to the Padres tonight at PNC Park, Bryan Reynolds picked up a Manny Machado single in right field after a diving but failed attempt by Oneil Cruz, then fired a throw toward the heart of the infield.
What happened next is an encapsulation of the season to date:
As the ball rolled into the dugout, Luis Arraez scored and Machado moved to third. He'd then score on a Gavin Sheets single through the middle with the infield pulled in.
A loud, but short, "Sell! The! Team!" chant broke out after that one. Yup, those are still happening.
Then, three innings later:
That one contributed to a three-run eighth inning that allowed the Padres to blow the game open and leave the Pirates, now 12-21 overall, at 3-13 against teams that are currently better than .500. Two of those wins came in the past week against the Cubs and Dodgers, and the other came against the Yankees nearly a month ago.
It's no accident. In those 16 games, they've been outscored, 100-49.
"You have to play a clean game," Adam Frazier would tell me about what the Pirates need to do to beat the league's top teams. "We held our own against the Dodgers, we snuck one against them, played pretty good one night, kinda like tonight. We were in the game until the seventh or eighth and then they blow it open. Tonight, we didn’t play clean enough to win. We gave them a couple extra 90s. They capitalized on those. To win series against teams like that, you have to get the closer in there at the end. With them taking advantage of their opportunities that we kinda gave them, we weren’t able to get the closer in there. That’s important on the opening night of a series."
Thus, it's no surprise that they are here ...
... nor that have the fourth-worst run differential (-43) in all of Major League Baseball, better than only the Rockies (-80), Marlins (-56) and Angels (-55), teams against which they're a combined 3-4, though they're yet to face the spectacularly awful Rockies. They've also lost six of their past eight games since taking two from the Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
There've been games like the one tonight, in which they trailed by a run in the eighth inning. But, to beat the teams in the upper echelon of the league, or any team, they can't make all these same mistakes.
"We have to limit them," Derek Shelton said. "We can't give away extra outs."
But, how do they fix it?
I asked Frazier: "Just gotta play a clean game. Keep practicing, focusing on the little things and that’s really it. That’s how you do it."
That would surely help a team that has the fourth-most errors in the majors this season and the fifth-most since 2020, the first season under Shelton and Ben Cherington. Not to be forgotten, the offense ranks in the bottom five in runs (113; 26th), batting average (.224; 27th), slugging percentage (.339; 28th) and OPS (.644; 26th).
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
5:10 am - 05.03.2025NORTH SHOREPirates now 3-13 vs. winning teams, and that's no accident
With one out in the fifth inning of the Pirates' 9-4 loss to the Padres tonight at PNC Park, Bryan Reynolds picked up a Manny Machado single in right field after a diving but failed attempt by Oneil Cruz, then fired a throw toward the heart of the infield.
What happened next is an encapsulation of the season to date:
As the ball rolled into the dugout, Luis Arraez scored and Machado moved to third. He'd then score on a Gavin Sheets single through the middle with the infield pulled in.
A loud, but short, "Sell! The! Team!" chant broke out after that one. Yup, those are still happening.
Then, three innings later:
That one contributed to a three-run eighth inning that allowed the Padres to blow the game open and leave the Pirates, now 12-21 overall, at 3-13 against teams that are currently better than .500. Two of those wins came in the past week against the Cubs and Dodgers, and the other came against the Yankees nearly a month ago.
It's no accident. In those 16 games, they've been outscored, 100-49.
"You have to play a clean game," Adam Frazier would tell me about what the Pirates need to do to beat the league's top teams. "We held our own against the Dodgers, we snuck one against them, played pretty good one night, kinda like tonight. We were in the game until the seventh or eighth and then they blow it open. Tonight, we didn’t play clean enough to win. We gave them a couple extra 90s. They capitalized on those. To win series against teams like that, you have to get the closer in there at the end. With them taking advantage of their opportunities that we kinda gave them, we weren’t able to get the closer in there. That’s important on the opening night of a series."
Thus, it's no surprise that they are here ...
... nor that have the fourth-worst run differential (-43) in all of Major League Baseball, better than only the Rockies (-80), Marlins (-56) and Angels (-55), teams against which they're a combined 3-4, though they're yet to face the spectacularly awful Rockies. They've also lost six of their past eight games since taking two from the Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
There've been games like the one tonight, in which they trailed by a run in the eighth inning. But, to beat the teams in the upper echelon of the league, or any team, they can't make all these same mistakes.
"We have to limit them," Derek Shelton said. "We can't give away extra outs."
But, how do they fix it?
I asked Frazier: "Just gotta play a clean game. Keep practicing, focusing on the little things and that’s really it. That’s how you do it."
That would surely help a team that has the fourth-most errors in the majors this season and the fifth-most since 2020, the first season under Shelton and Ben Cherington. Not to be forgotten, the offense ranks in the bottom five in runs (113; 26th), batting average (.224; 27th), slugging percentage (.339; 28th) and OPS (.644; 26th).
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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