The Pirates once again got a starting pitcher who couldn’t put up zeros, suspect defense behind said starting pitcher and an offense that has next to no power right now and all of that added up to another loss to the Brewers as the Bucs drop into last place with a 2-6 roadtrip. Braxton Ashcraft gave up four runs in five innings of work, including two home runs allowed to Jackson Chourio and Gary Sanchez. Doug and Nathan recapped this one on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti Bros. You can watch or listen to them here:
Here’s my takeaways from this horrid game and road trip…
A 2-6 Road Trip Buries This Team
The Pirates had a huge eight-game roadtrip against two divisional rivals and because of all the things I mentioned above, they finished it an abysmal 2-6 and find themselves in last place in the NL Central after it. Yes, even the Cincinnati Reds have past them in the standings. They’re a season worst three games under .500 and falling further back in the NL Wildcard race. They’re now five games back of the third wildcard spot and behind a litany of teams: Diamondbacks, Phillies, Padres, Marlins, Cardinals and the Reds. The starting pitching hasn’t been bad (besides Mitch Keller‘s last start), but we’re in this rut right now where no starting pitcher can put their foot down, play the stopper and put up six or seven innings of scoreless baseball. The defense has been poor which has been the case for most of the season and now suddenly the hitting, which carried this team for most of the season, went ice COLD. The only part of the team performing is the bullpen after all the relief arms they added at the deadline. What a turnaround of events. This team has talent and it’s been a better season, but they can’t all click at the same time.
I said it before this roadtrip how crucial this trip was because you can’t disappear and bury yourself and that’s exactly what they did. And they even had some momentum from the excitement of the trade deadline and that lasted one game when they defeated the Brewers Monday.
The Whole Team Looks Like They Need a Day Off
Folks on Twitter were saying Esmeryln Valdez, just one of many in an offensive slump, needs a rest and sit for a day. The Pirates gave him a day off in this loss, but honestly I think the whole team needs a day off. It’s not just Valdez. Bryan Reynolds is in a horrible slump and has one home run since July 10. They’re currently in a stretch of 17 consecutive games (MLB rule states a team can’t play for 20 straight days without an off day) and it shows. Nearly the entire offense is in a slump and looks like they need a day off. Who thought it was a good idea to give the team this stretch in the dog days of August?
They have one more series at PNC Park against the Mets before an off day Monday, and they just need to power through. And with this series, look who’s returning to the rotation:
Carmen Mlodzinksi will return to the rotation and make his 10th of the season. I’m interested to see what kind of outing we get from him because he’s been pretty well in the bullpen role. He’s fresh at least and let’s hope the bats can power through and come up with more than two runs a game in this series.
Offensive Slump
This slump by the bats is really offensive. Coming into this game, the Pirates offense had a 61 wRC+ since July 30 when this roadtrip began. That’s second worse in baseball in that span. They were batting .198 with a .291 slugging, also second worse in MLB. The lack of power has been a real struggle since pretty much the All-Star break. In the second half, the team’s ISO (isolated power) is just .120 which is 27th in MLB in the second half. They’ve hit 17 home runs going into Thursday, good for 23rd in MLB. And they’ve struck out 27.1% of the time in the second half which is the second highest in baseball. Strikeouts are fine if you’re hitting the ball out of the park, but when you’re striking out and struggling to hit for power, that’s no bueno.
And of course the bullpen is not the problem now. Ben Cherington focused everything he had on overhauling the bullpen at the deadline and even without Mlodzinski, this bullpen has seemingly turned a corner with Kirby Yates, Camilo Doval and Lake Bachar all making solid appearances since joining the team. Since July 30, the Pirates bullpen ERA is 2.90 which is 10th in MLB. And we haven’t even seen Luke Weaver pitch yet! There hasn’t been any leads to protect. Can the bats get going again now that we apparently have a competent pen? What do you boys and girls think? Let me know in the comments.
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