The Pirates had a chance to salvage a series against their biggest rival in the wild card race and got shut out at home in the series finale with the Diamondbacks. Despite a strong 6 innings from Jared Jones, the offensive struggles have continued throughout late July and the Bucs drop Game 3 before heading to play the Reds. The Pirates are now 55-54, and two games behind the Phillies and Diamondbacks for the last two Wild Card spots. The team could not get out of its own way throughout this series, and it results in two brutal losses in back to back days. Watch Cody and Doug break the game down in detail here:

Here’s my three takeaways from this series loss…

You Have to Hit Off the Starters

The Pirates faced two bad pitchers (Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt) and one good pitcher, Eduardo Rodriguez. Those 3 arms combined for 20.2 innings and gave up 0 earned runs between them. They stole a run-off Kelly because of a throwing error but in general got blanked by the D-back’s starters this series. This culminated in today, where E-Rod threw 8 shutout innings, and the team’s struggles against lefties persist. The Pirates are lucky to even have had a shot at winning this series when the offense goes cold for the first 6-7 innings of each game. One of the team’s strengths is pummeling opponents with runs and forcing other teams to play catch-up. Getting healthy will help, but as the team is constructed, you have to imagine the front office watches games like today and is looking at a right-handed bat or two to bring in at the deadline.

Marcell Ozuna Should Be Sent to a Farm Up North

Despite being in the top 5 in baseball in WAR, the team is playing on a 100-loss-pace pace when Marcell Ozuna features in the starting lineup. The team is now 25-40 when Ozuna gets the nod, and he can’t even touch left-handed pitching. It is embarrassing to watch this man get paid 12 million dollars to swing late at 92 mph fastballs. He can barely get the ball out of the infield; he is popping balls up like he’s Henry Davis and should be nothing more than a bench coach. He goes 0-for-3 today and never got close to getting on base. The Pirates are going to continue to struggle on offense and lose games the more they force Ozuna into the middle of the lineup. There is no justifiable reason to keep him on the roster besides the sunk cost fallacy. I never want to see this loser take another at-bat in our beautiful black and gold.

Take Advantage of the Reds

Losing 3 straight series is a tough look, especially since the Pirates are now back around .500 yet again. The team must rebound against a flailing Reds team, a division rival who they have been very good at beating in the Cherington era. All can be forgiven if you go into Cincinnati and sweep the Reds. Don’t let Ozuna see the field, get the offense back on track playing in that little league park, and flip the script on the entire wild card race. The team is good enough as is to beat the Reds and beat them soundly. It is not a must to sweep, but it’s a massive missed opportunity if you can’t manage to take at least 3/4.