The Pirates drop a second straight game to the Phillies to drop below .500 after a 10-6 loss. Paul Skenes struggled again as he gave up eight runs (seven earned) in just four innings of work. The offense battled back to keep the Pirates in it as Henry Davis homered and Nick Gonzales had three hits, but ultimately wasn’t enough after Skenes exited down 8-2. Jim and Tyler attempt to break this one down on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti Bros. You can watch/listen to them here:

Here’s my 3 takeaways from this disaster of a game…

Time to Skip a Start or Two for Paul Skenes

The Pirates haven’t won a Paul Skenes start since May 12 and his ERA sat at 1.98. It’s now at a 3.62 ERA. The Pirates are 0-9 in his last nine starts and he hasn’t pitched more than five innings six times out of those nine outings. He wasn’t good Wednesday night and once again, the defense let him down as well. He served up two home runs, a three-run bomb to Trea Turner and then a solo shot to Brandon Marsh. Nick Gonzales had a chance to make a play and he threw home to get the lead runner and hits the runner that allowed two runs to score. Next at-bat was the Turner 3-run bomb that made it 5-0. I swear every play ball in play that Skenes gives up that goes to Gonzales at third base ends in disaster. It’s unreal with how many there’s been. Obviously this team’s defense isn’t good and it’s especially not good at third with Nicky G playing out of position, but it’s hurt Skenes more than any other starting pitcher this season.

Jim was correct on the postgame when he said Skenes was bad, but he wasn’t eight runs, seven earned bad. That’s correct, but something isn’t right with Skenes right now. I still think he’s suffering from a bit of a dead arm and 10-day rest would do him some good. With the All-Star break coming up in a couple months, I would skip a start or two of his and build it around the ASB so he can rest the arm for 10-14 days. Oh and even if he makes the All-Star team, he can’t actually pitch in that game. You have to rest his arm.

This Team Isn’t Making the Playoffs

I’m sorry, but I’m calling it. This team is cooked. This offense is really good. Ben Cherington deserves his flowers for turning this offense around in an offseason, but he forgot a couple things—the bullpen is horrendous. There’s no one you can rely on at this point and every night it doesn’t matter who Don Kelly calls on, it’s very difficult to piece together some clean outings from this pen. And he also forgot about the defense. This team’s defense is bad. And nearly every game it comes to the forefront. The play or lack thereof by Gonzales and Davis in this loss is just a steady reminder that Cherington wasn’t able to upgrade at third base in the offseason and now we’re stuck playing Gonzales over there out of position. Meanwhile, Alec Bohm has saved about 45 runs for the Phillies this series. The Bucs scored six Wednesday night, but it could have easily been eight or more if Bohm hadn’t made a bunch of web gems over there at third.

But all that we kinda knew about going into the season, but it’s the starting pitching that lately has disappointed and nothing looms as large as losing nine straight Paul Skenes starts. That just can’t happen at any point in a season for a team looking to make the postseason. I’m just hoping they’re a year too early and can figure out a lot of things at the deadline and this offseason.

This Offense Tho

For years we witnessed good pitching, but teams that couldn’t hit their weight and that was some frustrating stuff to watch. Now, the offense is top 3 in MLB and the pitching can’t catch a break. Go figure. This offense is so good when they’re not facing pitchers named Cristopher Sánchez. In the first game of this series Monday night when down 5-0, they rallied off Aaron Nola scoring eight and ended up winning that game. In this game, they were once again down 5-0 and started to score off Zack Wheeler (who came in with a 2.03 ERA). They scored two runs and they added two more and chased him from the game after just 4.2 innings. They Pirates scored two more off the bullpen and had cut the lead to 8-6 and were back in it, but it turned out not to be enough in this one. But the offense continues to hit and score runs. They actually outhit the Phillies 12-11 in this game. Every started besides Tyler Callihan had a hit in this game. I can’t wait to see Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz getting added to this lineup after the ASB too. This offense is fun to watch and they deserve better on a nightly basis.