Tanner Rainey's seventh-inning implosion and Don Kelly's decision to go with him in the Pirates' 6-4 loss to the Padres today at Petco Park left a stain on a 3-3 West Coast road trip that was a step in the right direction.
Rainey's three walks and one hit led to blowing two-run lead. Kelly said he went to Rainey, rather than sticking with Chase Shugart, who threw three pitches in the sixth inning after relieving Andrew Heaney, because he liked Rainey's slider against a part of the Padres' lineup that had gone 2 for 14 with three walks and four strikeouts. That stretch included Xander Bogaerts, Jake Cronenworth, Jose Iglesias, Elias Diaz and Fernando Tatis Jr.
Against those five, Rainey issued a leadoff walk to Bogaerts, another free pass to Iglesias, following a Cronenworth flyout, and an RBI single to Diaz to cut it to 4-3. He then walked Tatis before Kelly went to Caleb Ferguson with the bases loaded.
"Felt like it was a pretty good lane," Kelly said. "The zone kinda escaped us there in the seventh and it didn't work out."
What followed from Ferguson:
That sequence -- a weak single with an 84.3 mph exit velocity to left from Luis Arraez, a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado and a comebacker to the mound from Tyler Wade -- led to the first inherited runners Ferguson has allowed to score all year. A sour note to end an otherwise strong road trip.
With a 22-38 record, the Pirates sit at the bottom of the National League Central standings. They aren't making a playoff run, but Kelly and his staff are garnering improvements.
The 19 runs they scored against the Diamondbacks was a season-high, albeit it came against a pitching staff with a 4.81 ERA which ranks 24th in the major leagues. The fight they showed following Edwin Jimenez's blown ball/strike call on Friday was seen as a turning point on Saturday with a near-perfect performance.
Leading into today's game, the Pirates' offense had scored the sixth-most runs (44) since May 22, the day they snapped the 26-game streak of scoring four or fewer runs. They also had the fifth-best batting average (.279), sixth-best on-base percentage (.347), seventh-best WAR (1.9), eighth-most walks (31) and fourth-most doubles (20).
"You have guys getting out there every single day doing early work, whether, it's our leadoff hitter, second hitter or guys that are on the bench," Spencer Horwitz told me. "Seeing it has been impressive and I think it's been showing up in games."
The starting rotation has been consistent all year, having the ninth-best WHIP (1.20) and opponent batting average (.235) in Major League Baseball and the defense has improved, albeit slightly. Better results are still needed, as Kelly is 10-12 since taking over, but he and his staff are taking steps in the right direction.
"We gotta keep going," Kelly said when I asked about what the message is to the team following a loss like this. "We talked the other day about how we gotta keep earning it. Today got away from us, but on the whole we could've snuck out of the road trip with five wins. The first game here was tough. Today was tough. But we've shown that we can be resilient and bounce back, and we'll expect to do that once we're back home."
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
3:57 am - 06.02.2025SAN DIEGOGoing Deep: Bullpen implosion clouds progress
Tanner Rainey's seventh-inning implosion and Don Kelly's decision to go with him in the Pirates' 6-4 loss to the Padres today at Petco Park left a stain on a 3-3 West Coast road trip that was a step in the right direction.
Rainey's three walks and one hit led to blowing two-run lead. Kelly said he went to Rainey, rather than sticking with Chase Shugart, who threw three pitches in the sixth inning after relieving Andrew Heaney, because he liked Rainey's slider against a part of the Padres' lineup that had gone 2 for 14 with three walks and four strikeouts. That stretch included Xander Bogaerts, Jake Cronenworth, Jose Iglesias, Elias Diaz and Fernando Tatis Jr.
Against those five, Rainey issued a leadoff walk to Bogaerts, another free pass to Iglesias, following a Cronenworth flyout, and an RBI single to Diaz to cut it to 4-3. He then walked Tatis before Kelly went to Caleb Ferguson with the bases loaded.
"Felt like it was a pretty good lane," Kelly said. "The zone kinda escaped us there in the seventh and it didn't work out."
What followed from Ferguson:
That sequence -- a weak single with an 84.3 mph exit velocity to left from Luis Arraez, a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado and a comebacker to the mound from Tyler Wade -- led to the first inherited runners Ferguson has allowed to score all year. A sour note to end an otherwise strong road trip.
With a 22-38 record, the Pirates sit at the bottom of the National League Central standings. They aren't making a playoff run, but Kelly and his staff are garnering improvements.
The 19 runs they scored against the Diamondbacks was a season-high, albeit it came against a pitching staff with a 4.81 ERA which ranks 24th in the major leagues. The fight they showed following Edwin Jimenez's blown ball/strike call on Friday was seen as a turning point on Saturday with a near-perfect performance.
Leading into today's game, the Pirates' offense had scored the sixth-most runs (44) since May 22, the day they snapped the 26-game streak of scoring four or fewer runs. They also had the fifth-best batting average (.279), sixth-best on-base percentage (.347), seventh-best WAR (1.9), eighth-most walks (31) and fourth-most doubles (20).
"You have guys getting out there every single day doing early work, whether, it's our leadoff hitter, second hitter or guys that are on the bench," Spencer Horwitz told me. "Seeing it has been impressive and I think it's been showing up in games."
The starting rotation has been consistent all year, having the ninth-best WHIP (1.20) and opponent batting average (.235) in Major League Baseball and the defense has improved, albeit slightly. Better results are still needed, as Kelly is 10-12 since taking over, but he and his staff are taking steps in the right direction.
"We gotta keep going," Kelly said when I asked about what the message is to the team following a loss like this. "We talked the other day about how we gotta keep earning it. Today got away from us, but on the whole we could've snuck out of the road trip with five wins. The first game here was tough. Today was tough. But we've shown that we can be resilient and bounce back, and we'll expect to do that once we're back home."
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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