North Shore Nine

The Pirates went 2-3 this week, which while not terrible does not grant a boon of confidence considering the opponents faced. The fake rain out in Detroit might have hurt their chances in that series as it is hard to sweep a double header. Then in the Toronto series a number of bad decisions both on and off the field cost at least one win there. The one-win difference would have left the Pirates only 1 game out of the wild card spot. Though, it should be noted that is a very bloated field at the moment with six teams 3 games or less out of that final spot. The schedule this week is going to be a lot tougher for the Pirates as they face the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins.

In this weekly recap, we will look at each of the three major categories—Offense, Pitching, and Defense/Baserunning—and grade how the Pirates played.

Offense:
The Pirates scored 25 runs in their five games this week. Though technically all were scored in four of the games due to the shutout in the first part of the double header against Detroit. The standouts this week were Nick Gonzales, Andrew McCutchen with Connor Joe and Ke’Byran Hayes having nice weeks as well. Jared Triolo played well in limited At Bats and Rowdy Tellez had a great Sunday performance but was mundane at best the rest of the week. Then you had a quartet of players who had 1 hit, Yasmani Grandal, or less, Grant Koch, Edward Olivares and Michael A. Taylor. Though it should be noted the at bats each received was 12, 7, 7 and 6 respectively. Bryan Reynolds managed 4 RBI on the week, which was one more than hits he achieved. Henry Davis is being recalled, hopefully he can come on hot like Nick Gonzales has since his recall. The bats will need to continue to hit if they want to start winning some games. Oneil Cruz has again gone cold, if he can get hot his smile might ignite some of the other colder bats. Also it will be interesting to see if the Tellez game was a one off, or the start of the breakout fans have all but given up on.

Pitching:
Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Bailey Falter were phenomenal once again this week. While Falter was the only one not to garner a win he pitched arguably the best of the group. Jared Jones was roughed up in his start as was Quinn Priester, though for Priester it was as much a failure of the bullpen to hold as it was on him. The bullpen statistically was much better this week, though the inability to hold after starters are pulled did lead to two losses this week. Also, the errors on the defense that lead to 4 unearned runs helped the stat line of the pitchers quite a bit. Once this bullpen is able to start holding games better and closing them out better, as long as the starter can continue as they have the team will turn around quickly.

Defense/Baserunning:
Four errors this week led to as many unearned runs for the Pirates pitchers. Hayes had an error in his first game back from the IL. Gonzales had a fielding error as well, though made up for it with a number of other great defensive plays. Luis Ortiz had another throwing error on the mound as did Hunter Stratton on a pickoff attempt. The “error” that was the mostly costly was Ji-Hwan Bae in centerfield “losing” a ball in a dome which cost Bailey Falter a win and eventually the Pirates the game. With the pitching on board, minus the bullpen, Pirates will need to figure out how to generate better defense out of what they have. Else it will continue to cost them games, something that will be more of an issue as the season deepens. Only one stolen base this week. It is vitally important for the Pirates to steal bases, the continued failure to do so will hurt them as much as the poor defense has.

At 27-32, the Pirates are still only 2 games out of the Wild Card, gaining a half a game even in a very disappointing week. If this team can start to put things together they could go on a nice winning streak. Tightening up the defense, stealing more bases, and having more effective at bats are the strategies here. Add that to the starting pitching, and a bullpen looking to turn itself around and you will see more wins piling up in the win column. This will need to happen fast as they enter a week against two good opponents. Even if they manage to just go 3-3 this week that would a good week for them. We shall see how it all shakes out in the end.