June continues to not be the Pirates’ friend as they dropped the third game of a home series against the Miami Marlins. With their 4-2 loss, they have now lost 3 series in a row, have won 2 of their last 9, and managed only 2 wins on this current homestand. Despite Paul Skenes pitching well, the bats were silent almost all game and the bullpen yet again put the game out of reach. The Pirates are now back at .500 at 36-36, and need to rebound against the Athletics and Rockies this week. Watch Jim and Doug break down the game in detail here:
Paul Skenes Panic is Boring
The Pirates are now 0-4 in their last 4 Paul Skenes starts. Skenes has been disappointing for his standards, and those standards happen to be running a 2.45 ERA and 34 strikeouts over 22 innings. On the season, his ERA sits at 2.85, his WHIP sits under 1, and he is striking out nearly 11 batters per 9 innings. In shorter terms, disappointing Paul Skenes is still one of the best pitchers in baseball. Sure, it would be nice for him to go deeper into games. The Pirates could especially use deeper starts since the bullpen is so bad. However, the talk surrounding him is exhausting because people are acting like he is no longer an ace. I repeat that he is running a sub-3 ERA for his 4 starts, and you would think the world is ending. We are not extending Skenes, so we should enjoy him now instead of complaining about him not running sub-2 ERA’s all the time.
Hard to Win When Your Best Hitters are Cold
Spencer Horwitz, Brandon Lowe, and Ryan O’Hearn went a combined 0-14 with 9 strikeouts between the trio. This lack of production fully negated Bryan Reynolds reaching base 4 times and was the driving force behind why the team scored 2 runs and left 11 runners on base. Having these guys go cold is especially hard with the state of the current roster. Marcell Ozuna has become a glorified bench coach, and Griffin and Cruz are sorely missed with their power and speed. It’s not fair to ask these guys to come through every night, but it is evident that the Pirates and their depth are being strained to the max. There is only so much that Tyler Callihan, Jake Mangum, and Endy Rodriguez can do to pick up our veterans when they are in a slump.
Did You Know the Bullpen is Bad?
It gets to a point where we talk about the same thing after every game. How do the members of the bullpen look their teammates in the face on a daily basis? Once again, the bullpen fell apart at the hands of Branden Bidois and the 2 runs he gave up in the top of the 8th. The offense must do better against the Marlins, but once again the bullpen put a close game out of reach late. If it’s a 2-1 game in the bottom of the 9th, we might be sitting here talking about Bryan Reynolds and his late-game heroics. Instead, the lack of any efficient right-handed bullpen arms meant the home run was in vain. There were barely any cheers for Reynold’s bomb since the game was already over.
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