Long Balls, Max Scherzer Sink the Pittsburgh Pirates in Loss Against Washington

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now lost six consecutive road games

Road woes continued for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night. In Tuesday night’s 12-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, the Pirates played one of their poorest games of the season as the offense did little, the pitching was terrible, and the team had some miscues in the field as well.

With Tuesday night’s loss, the Pirates are now 17-13 overall this season. However, they have lost six consecutive road games. Going back a bit further, the Bucs are now averaging just 1.89 runs per game in their past nine road contests. This is a big reason why the team is just 2-7 in these games.

Chad Kuhl started for the Pirates on Tuesday night and had a tall task ahead of him as he was squaring off against three-time Cy Young Award Winner Max Scherzer. Unfortunately, on top of Scherzer pitching a strong game on Tuesday night, Kuhl was far from his best.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 3rd inning when Wilmer Difo hit a solo home run. Matt Adams then hopped on the solo home run train with one of his own in the bottom of the 4th inning, making the score 2-0 Nationals.

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The score would remain 2-0 until the bottom of the 5th inning when the floodgates opened.

With 1-out, Scherzer reached on a rare Colin Moran error. After Kuhl walked Difo, Bryce Harper blasted a 3-run home run to make the score 5-0 Nats. Adams then hit his second solo home run of the night making the score 6-0. This home run also chased Kuhl from the game.

In 4 2/3 innings pitched on Tuesday night Kuhl allowed 6 runs, 5 earned, on 4 hits, 2 walks, the 4 home runs, and 3 strikeouts. This was by far Kuhl’s worst start of the season thus far.

Tyler Glasnow would replace Kuhl to get the final out of the bottom of the 5th inning. Glasnow than ran into trouble in the bottom of the 6th inning. After allowing 4 hits and issuing a pair of walks, Glasnow had been saddled for 6 runs and the Nats led 12-0. Richard Rodriguez would then be summoned to get the final out of the inning.

Josh Bell drew a walk to start the top of the 7th inning in front of Corey Dickerson‘s 4th home run of the season. This got the Pirates on the board, cutting the National lead to 12-2. After retiring pinch-hitter Elias Diaz, Scherzer’s night came to an end. In 6 1/3 innings pitched, Scherzer allowed just 2 runs on 3 hits, 2 walks, and whiffed 8.

One highlight of the game for the Pirates was Josh Bell. Entering the game the Pirate first baseman had been struggling mightily this season, but he went 2-for-3 with a walk and a double on Tuesday night. Hopefully, this is the game that gets him back on track.

Rodriguez also continued his great work out of the Pirate bullpen. After pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings on Tuesday night, he now owns a 0.20 FIP and has struck out 15 batters in 9 1/3 innings pitched this season.

In the top of the 9th inning the Pirates were able to tack on another pair of runs. Following a double by Moran, Max Moroff hit his first home run of the season. This set the final at 12-4.

The third game of this four-game series is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday night. Things will not get any easier for the Pirates as they will go to battle against Stephen Strasburg. Clint Hurdle and the Bucs will counter with Ivan Nova.