Your Pittsburgh Pirates have finished a sweep of the Miami Marlins to begin their 2024 campaign. Through four games, the Pirates have scored 31 runs while allowing 17. They had to battle back to win games 1 and 4 but nevertheless, through perseverance, they have raced out to the best record in the NL, and tied for the best in MLB. Furthermore, this is the first time since 1903 that the Pirates have swept a 4 game series to start the season. In this weekly recap, we will look at each of the three major categories—Offense, Pitching, and Defense—and grade how the Pirates played.

Offense:
The Pirates did enough this week offensively to sweep the Marlins. There were a few who scuffled, namely Jack Suwinski, Henry Davis, and Rowdy Tellez. There were just as many that remained hot, hot, hot in Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, and Bryan Reynolds. With potentially surprising hot contributors in Connor Joe, Edward Olivares, and Michael A. Taylor. Your first Pirate to homer this year was Reynolds, joining him in the early season home run club were Cruz, Olivares, and Tellez. The Battlin’ Buccos are back; they have rallied in two of the four wins, and pounded the scoreboard in the other two.
Now it isn’t all puppy dogs, butterflies, and rainbows. There has been a large amount of runners left on base. Furthermore, a few Pirates have struck out a few more times than is what is preferred. But, a win is a win, and with four of them in a row, Pirates fans are able to excuse a few things.

Offensively, the Pirates are getting it done. Whether that can continue is yet to be seen. However, with the few issues that are outstanding, if they are able to correct those then they are in very good shape.

Pitching:
The bullpen has mostly been very good. The rotation has been hot and cold, as expected; however, the cold and hot players might not have been who was expected. We have seen 4 Pirates starters to date. The best of the bunch, as expected, was Martin Perez with Jared Jones a close 2nd. That leaves the non-surprise Bailey Falter in the bottom with Mitch Keller. Now, while Keller was not sharp, he was also not necessarily bad. It was not his sharpest start, and he did not throw many strikeouts, but he was far from unusable. Fans who are eyeing the bridge after his start need to avert their eyes and wait for the man to start cooking. On the other side, Bailey Falter was not good. Awful could be the word used to describe his outing. In said outing, he pitched 4 innings, gave up 2 home runs and 6 runs, walked 3, and stuck out two. How Falter is on the roster and Priester is not, or how Wolf is gone but Falter remains, is a mystery for the ages. However, if folks want the answer to why that is the issue, you can read further here. On the other side of the spectrum, Jones and Perez pitched well. Perez went 4.1 innings, giving up only one run while striking out two and walking three. While his WHIP was 2.08 and his Average Against was .333, he got enough soft contact to make up the difference. The standout starter this week, as expected, was Jared Jones. Jersey half unbuttoned looking like a Miami Vice character, Jones pitched his way into the hearts (and pants?) of many Pirates fans. Casual fans will see the 4.76 ERA and freak out; however, the diligent amongst the faithful will see only three hits and two walks surrendered over 5.2 innings. That, coupled with 10 strikeouts, makes for a damn good first start for the young Buc. He is in line to start the Home Opener for the Pirates; gird your loins Female Faithful, Jared Jones will be towing the rubber on April 5th. The bullpen has been very good for the Pirates as well. Luis Oritz has shown why he should have been in the 4th starting role. Ryan Boruki has pitched very well in his three appearances, as did Jose Hernandez before his send-down. Ryan Ryder, Hunter Stratton, and Adrolis Chapman have all been near-perfect in their appearances. While Bednar has already blown a save, it is what it is and could easily be called a fluke. Overall, the bullpen can be credited with more than one win, and to date is the backbone of the 4-0 start.

Defense:
Woof. A comedy of errors was the apt name for the Game 1 recap and could have continued for most of the games. Hayes has already earned 2 errors (in the same game) and Jared Triolo and Cruz also have one apiece. You add that to a number of baserunning blunders and there is a lot of work to be done. While some of this could be attributed to bad calls by base coaches, it is nevertheless an issue that will need immediate addressing. A strong defense is what will help keep the Pirates in games as the season drags on, so the current follies better remain early-season mistakes and nothing more.

4-0 is exactly where every team wants to be at this point in the season; however, the Pirates have not achieved this record on skill alone, as few teams can. They will need to shore up the few problem areas before the season gets truly rolling. Otherwise, the excuses that can be used at the moment will no longer hold sway.