Steven Brault and Offense Struggles in Pirate Loss to the Rockies

The Pittsburgh Pirates started their three-game series against the Colorado Rockies with a loss on Monday night

The Pittsburgh Pirates now own an 11-5 this season. This comes after they suffered a 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Monday night at PNC Park.

The Rockies scored a pair of runs in the top of the 1st inning on Monday night and never looked back. They got a strong performance from starting pitcher German Marquez, and relievers Chris Rusin and Adam Ottavino combined to pitch 3 scoreless innings in relief of Marquez.

Steven Brault made his third start of the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night, and he struggled early and often.

After getting ahead of DJ LeMahieu 0-2, Brault would wind up walking him to start the game. Chris Iannetta then hit a run-scoring double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. He then scored on a Charlie Blackmon groundout to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.

Throughout the night Brault struggled with his control. In 6 innings pitched he issued just a pair of walks to go with his wild pitch, but he regularly missed his spots and left too many hittable pitches over the plate.

Failing to put hitters away was a big problem for Brault as well, and in the top of the 4th inning his inability to put hitters away got him in trouble again. He was ahead in the count 0-2 against Ian Desmond who entered the night with an 18:1 strikeout-to-walk ration this season, however, Brault would go on to walk Desmond.

Later in the inning, he got ahead of Trevor Story 0-2. He then threw an absolute meatball despite being ahead in the count and Story crushed the Brault pitch for a 3-run home run. This made the score 5-0 Rockies.

Steven Brault would end up allowing 5 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, Story’s home run, and a strikeout in 6 innings pitched on Monday night.

As for the Pirate offense, they did not do much to help Brault. Prior to Francisco Cervelli hitting a 1-out triple in the bottom of the 5th inning, the team had been held hitless. Cervelli would then score on a Colin Moran sacrifice fly. The Bucs would add a second run when Starling Marte tripled home Gregory Polanco in the bottom of the 6th inning.

When things were all said and done, the Pirates recorded just 4 hits while drawing just one walk on Monday night. Against a lineup as good as the Rockies, this sort of offensive output simply is not good enough. The rest of the series, the Pirate offense must be better.

Next: Prospect Spotlight: Brandon Waddell

The second game of this series is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from PNC Park on Tuesday night. Trevor Williams will make his fourth start of the year for the Pirates, while Bud Black and the Rockies counter with Chad Bettis. The Pirates will look to earn a victory in order to avoid their first series loss of the season.