Despite showing some fight with a three-run ninth inning that sent this afternoon's series finale into extra innings, the Pirates concluded a dreadful weekend with another disheartening loss, this by a 5-4 final against the Guardians in 10 innings at PNC Park. 

That's the second time in a week that the Pirates, now 8-15 through their first 23 games, have been swept. This particular stretch of three straight losses followed an encouraging start to the homestand, as they took three of four from the Nationals. 

Instead of inching closer to the .500 mark, struggles against another good team continued. The Pirates have just one win against teams that currently have a winning record. That lone victory came in the series finale against the Yankees. 

Things aren't going to get easier, either. The Pirates now head West for six games -- three against the 11-10 Angels and three against the 16-7 Dodgers. They then return home for a homestand that includes three games against the 14-10 Cubs and three against the 15-6 Padres. 

Derek Shelton said his message heading into a tough upcoming stretch revolves around developing overall consistency in terms of stacking together positive results. 

"We gotta get something going and be consistent with it," Shelton said. "Right now, we're not doing that. We won three of four then we lose three. We just need to be more consistent." 

That's something the Pirates struggled with often last season. They flirted around the .500 mark for a majority of the year and were two games above .500 at 56-54 at the beginning of August. Then, a 10-game losing streak that included six straight losses on the road against the Dodgers and Padres ended any hopes of bouncing back. 

Shelton doesn't want the group to think too much about urgency this early in the season. But gaining some type of consistency and rattling off at least a win or two per series would certainly help matters. 

"I think the message is just consistency and day-to-day. Every day, because I think when you get to the point where you start thinking about urgency, then you start thinking about a whole series instead of just today," Shelton said. "We need to focus on today, or tomorrow or whatever day we play next." 

Adam Frazier, who helped spark this afternoon's ninth-inning rally with a two-run double, agrees that a one-day-at-a-time approach can lead to better results. In his mind, there's no use in dwelling on the 15 losses the team has heading into this upcoming trip, which begins Tuesday at Angel Stadium:

“What’s already happened, you can’t really control, and you can’t control what’s ahead. It’s one day at a time and that’s the only thing you can do," Frazier said. "It’s a 162-game season. If you start to look back or look forward, those valleys get a little deeper, so we’ll be ready to play Tuesday.” 

More than anything, the Pirates have to find more consistency at the plate. They have one of the worst-ranked offenses in Major League Baseball, and have looked the part more often than not, but there have been times where they've managed to break through. Aside from being shut out yesterday, they generated 11 runs on 22 hits in the other games of this series. 

On this day, they had 11 hits, including four in a ninth inning in which Ke'Bryan Hayes delivered the game-tying single two batters after Frazier's double scored Enmanuel Valdez and Tommy Pham. Valdez led off the inning with a walk and Pham followed with a double. There were three other innings where the Pirates managed to string together multiple hits. That included the sixth when Andrew McCutchen followed up a Bryan Reynolds single with an RBI double.

As encouraging as those multi-hit innings were, there was more to be desired with the way the offense finished the day. After the Guardians scored a run in the top of a hitless inning by simply delivering productive outs with a 4-3 groundout by Jose Ramirez and a sac fly off the bat of Kyle Manzardo, the Pirates failed to do the same. Joey Bart walked to put two runners on before Oneil Cruz grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and Valdez lined out to right to end the game. 

“Just (gotta) put together tough at-bats just like that ninth inning," Frazier said. "If we can do that, we’ll put up some more runs and have a better chance to win games.” 

Quality outings on the mound will certainly help out West against two teams with a combined 25-17 record this season. The Dodgers and Angels both rank among the bottom 10 teams in terms of batting average this season, but they rely heavily on their ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark, stressing the importance of keeping their power hitters in check. The Dodgers rank second in MLB with 36 home runs and the Angels are fourth with 33. 

Pitching performances like the one Mitch Keller provided today will be welcomed. He only went five innings due to his pitch count reaching triple digits, but he limited the Guardians to just two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out three and allowed a two-run home run to Steven Kwan in the third inning.

Keller views this upcoming road trip as an opportunity for the group to turn things around. It won't be easy. Neither will the two series that follow back home. But Keller said a much-needed momentum swing could be established if this trip can result in a winning record. 

"That would be huge for our confidence, and for the team," Keller said. "Coming back from a good road trip, and have a good homestand. We're trying to win every single series and I think these two coming up are really big for our team. There's no doubt in my mind that we can do it."