Pittsburgh Pirates home stand review for 8/1-8/8

Another home stand is in the books. This week, the Pittsburgh Pirates hosted the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers for eight games at PNC Park. Starting the stretch a disappointing 2-3, Pittsburgh rebounded to take its final three games to finish the home stand with a 5-3 record.

The stretch got off to a pathetic, yet all too familiar start. The Pirates were curb stomped by the Reds last Tuesday night in an 8-1 laugher that included a three-run homer by Billy Hamilton. 

Wednesday night brought more disappointment. Although the contest was somewhat exciting until the ninth inning, the result was the same, as the Bucs fell, 5-2.

The series finale gave us a glimpse of what Pittsburgh should have been doing to the stinky Reds all year long. The Bucs clicked on all cylinders and won 6-0.

Next on the horizon were the hapless San Deigo Padres. The Bucs continued their momentum through a long series opener Friday night, as the combination of a two-hour rain delay and an offensive showcase made the contest a little more eventful than it was supposed to be. A six-run seventh inning propelled Pittsburgh to an important 10-6 win.

Frustration reared its ugly head again Saturday night. The Pirate offense only managed one hit off of tomato can Dinelson Lamet. A pair of late runs off the San Diego bullpen was not enough, and the Bucs fell 5-2.

The series ended in exciting fashion. What looked to be a pedestrian Pirate victory turned into one of the more exciting games of the season. Felipe Rivero’s first blown save of the campaign was a blessing in disguise, as the returning Sean Rodriguez sent the city into a frenzy with a walk-off bomb in the 12th to give Pittsburgh a refreshing series win.

Next up were the Detriot Tigers. The good vibes from Sunday carried over to Monday night, thanks to the continued success of starting pitcher Trevor Williams. The kid is alright, and was more than alright Monday, allowing no runs and just one hit in seven innings of work. Juan Nicasio and newcomer George Kontos did the rest, aided by a pinch-hit jack from John Jaso, and the Bucs cruised to a 3-0 win.

The final game of the home stand saw another three-run W. Six well-pitched innings from Chad Kuhl, along with Andrew McCutchen’s 23rd homer of the campaign propelled the Bucs to a 6-3 win, ending the stretch on a high note.

This home stand saw plenty of highs and lows, and I will break them all down, discussing how the Pirates performed in the key facets of the game using a “report card” format. Let’s get into it.

Offense

Since Taillon allowed eight runs, we don’t need to discuss what the Pirates offense did last Tuesday night.

The next night was little better. Despite facing a starting pitcher who came into the night a 7.86 earned run average, the Bucs managed a lousy two runs. To make matters worse, those tallies came after Reds starter Robert Stephenson left the game. Andrew McCutchen had two hits, tho. So that’s something positive if expected.

Right from the get-go, the Bucco bats were on in the series finale. The Pirates scored two in the first, two in the third, and finished things off with two in the seventh to compliment Chad Kuhl’s best start of 2017. Four different players had multi-hit nights, with Starling Marte and David Freese each producing three hits. Arguably the best part of it all was that John Jaso broke a month-long hitless streak with a little poke in the seventh.

After struggling to get much going against journeyman Travis Wood Friday night, the Bucco bats came alive in the seventh inning. Trailing 6-4, a three-run pinch-hit jack by Gregory Polanco gave Pittsburgh the lead, and it never looked back, scoring three more times in the frame to put the game out of reach.

Saturday was similar to what we saw in the Cincinnati series in that an awful pitcher dominated the Pirates. Dinelson Lamet allowed one hit over 5.1 innings of work. Nothing more needs to be said about that.

Although the Bucs scored four runs against another scrub in Clayton Richard, it would have been fantastic if they had gotten just one or two more tallies to put the game to bed before extra innings. Granted, this would have eliminated the possibility of Serpico’s heroics, but a pitcher as poor as Richard has been this season should not be throwing six innings, and it almost cost the Bucs.

The bats couldn’t get much done against Jordan Zimmerman Monday night, but one run was all they would need. Fortunately, they added two more in the seventh when Jaso hit a two-out, two-run homer to put the game out of reach.

After a Marte single had started the scoring and a McCutchen homer gave Chad Kuhl some breathing room, the Pirates starter helped his cause with a two-out, two-run single in the fourth that pushed the lead to 4-0. The Bucs added two more runs to end the homestand on a positive note offensively.

Despite scoring six or more times on three occasions this week, the offense struggled with starting pitchers that it should not have had a hard time with. Richard, Lamet and Zimmerman should not have done as well as they did against this team. If the Pirates have any hope of catching the Chicago Cubs and winning the NL Central, they will need to take advantage of tomato cans on the mound.

Grade: C-

Bullpen

Joaquin Benoit’s Pirates career did not get off to a promising start Wednesday night. The old man allowed a go-ahead solo home run to Reds rookie and already Pirate killer Jesse Winker that proved to be the game winner. Bringing the 40-year-old Benoit in was a head scratcher by general manager Neal Huntington, as the Pirates would be better off with youngsters like Steven Brault and Edgar Santana at their disposal. Hopefully, Benoit is still somewhat serviceable. To add insult to injury, Felipe Rivero allowed two runs in the ninth which put the game out of reach.

After a quiet series finale, the ‘pen was put back to work in the series opener with San Diego. Benoit’s inauspicious Pirates career continued, as he allowed two earned runs in his .2 innings of work. The Bucs came back to win the game, but there is no reason that Benoit should be on this team.

Daniel Hudson’s horribly underwhelming run continued Saturday night. Coming in to work the eighth with the Bucs down 3-2, Hudson allowed a two-run bomb to Dusty Coleman to eliminate hope for another rally.

Sunday further proved that even Rivero is human. The relief ace took a 4-2 lead into the ninth, so the contest looked like a formality. It was not so. Rivero allowed two runs to tie it and didn’t even get a chance to finish the inning.

After a quiet Monday night, the Bucco bullpen was impressive in the final game of the home stand. It took Rivero, A.J. Schugel and George Kontos a combined 25 pitches to secure Tuesday’s win. The addition of Kontos, in particular, has been a positive thus far.

Despite doing its job in the final two games of the home stand, the bullpen continues to be shaky. Things have looked considerably better in the two games that Kontos has been on the team, and hopefully, that is a sign of things to come. Nonetheless, the ‘pen has been a detriment to the Pirates all year long, and as with the offense, that needs to change.

Grade: C- 

Overall

This home stand was hard to get a handle on. Yes, the Pirates won five of the eight games they played, and yes, they ended the stretch on a three-game win streak. At the same time, when the three opponents you face are a combined 43 games below .500, going 5-3 in that stretch isn’t something to throw a parade over.

Losing two of three to the poor pitiful Reds is not acceptable. Every Pirate fan knows about the struggles this team has had with Cincy over the past four seasons, and it continues to be aggravating. Luckily, the Bucs ended that series on a high note and have played good baseball for the most part ever since. Going 6-2 or 7-1 on this home stand, however, would have been much sweeter than 5-3. I think that is something that everybody can attest to.

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The important thing to take from all of this is that, somehow, the Pittsburgh Pirates are only 3.5 games out of first place in the Central. While I still do not expect them to win the division by any stretch, it looks more and more apparent by the day that this team could be in it till the bitter end.

In short, if the Pirates have any hope of making the playoffs, going 5-3 at home against three crap teams will not cut it.

Overall grade: C