Does anything good ever happen for the Pirates in Atlanta? I sure can’t think of anything. And Sunday afternoon was just another latest installment in a long list of tough defeats in the ATL. The Pirates led 2-0 all game until they didn’t when Evan Sisk served up a bases-clearing double to give the Braves a 3-2 lead and that was all they would need. Mason Montgomery opened and Bubba Chandler had one of his better starts of the season, but it was all for not as the Bucco bats couldn’t add on or rally in this one. DiNardo and Tyler recapped this one on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti’s Bros. You can watch or listen to the show here:
Here’s my three takeaways from Sunday’s loss and being swept to the Braves…
The Lights Were Too Bright for the Pirates
The Pirates had been playing well coming into this series and were a season high five games over .500, but the Pirates fell flat on their face in this series which was a best test against the best team in the National League. The Pirates offense got some runs off of the Braves starter each game, but that was basically it for positives. They hit just one solo home run and didn’t add on against the bullpen in any of the three games this series. The bad defense reared its ugly head again this series and the starting pitching fell flat and the bullpen faltered again as soon as it mattered. Maybe it’s just because it was Atlanta. Nothing good happens there for the Pirates. See Sid Bream or Jerry Meals as two of the culprits. The Braves are rolling high and they showed why this series. Their starting pitching did enough to hold it together and keep their team in it, they hit when they needed to and their bullpen was lights out.
The Pirates showed they weren’t ready yet to win this type of series. They’re close, but they really do need to learn how to win and find a way in a game like Sunday. And once again, when they distance themselves from .500 just a little bit, they always seem to come back down. We’ll see if it was just the Braves because the Pirates go right into a series with the second best team in the NL in the Dodgers Tuesday at PNC Park. Let’s hope the lights aren’t too bright for them in that series and that they learned something from this three-game sweep.
The Offense Didn’t Do Enough This Series
The Bucs lost these three games by the scores of 6-3, 6-3 and 3-2. Sure the pitching needs to be better, but the bats had a chance to come back and pull out each of these games. In Sunday’s game where they were swept, the bats had a 2-0 lead but had a chance to add on in the 3rd inning and failed to do so and then they missed out on a huge chance in the 8th inning and couldn’t even tie the game by failing to get a runner in from third with one out. After hitting at least one home run for 11 straight games, the power went away in this series too which didn’t help either especially when you aren’t stringing together four hits an inning, you need to rely on the power. It was non-existent in Atlanta. On Sunday afternoon, they were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and they didn’t score one run off of a very good Braves bullpen.
The Pirates offense has been great this season no doubt. Please don’t think that I’m saying they haven’t, but when they struggle they should be called out for it too. It’s hard to win games when you score just 2.67 runs per game. They’ve been so much better than we thought this year, but at times they go cold when the team needs a rally or just one game to try and salvage a series. It won’t get any easier this week either with the Dodgers and Ohtani coming to town.
Brandon Lowe is Alive and Well
If you read my takeaways from Saturday’s game or spent any time on Twitter this weekend, you know that there were some very nervous peeps (me included) worrying about the status on Lowe, and rightfully so because he’s a huge part of this team’s offense. But good news prevailed. Lowe’s scans not only were negative for a fracture, but Lowe even pinch-hit in the 9th inning and ripped a double on his first swing. Oneil Cruz came in to pinch run for him, but seeing him out there to even pinch hit in the first game after the injury is a big sigh of relief. Of course Cruz was stranded at third base as the Pirates comeback came up short, but the good news is it doesn’t look like Lowe will be missing any time so the season is back on! Here’s some updates throughout Sunday from Twitter and video of his 9th-inning double.
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