Pittsburgh Pirates home stand report card 7/26 – 8/5

The Pittsburgh Pirates are ready to embark on a three-city, nine-game road trip following a 4-5 homestand

It was an interesting homestand for the Pittsburgh Pirates. On the surface, going 4-5 in games against the lowly Mets and two division rivals in the Cubs and Cardinals seems underwhelming, and it was disappointing to an extent. But this week also featured the most exciting day Pittsburgh baseball has experienced in almost three years, that being the 2018 MLB Trade Deadline.

The Bucs made two splashes, acquiring reliever Keone Kela from the Texas Rangers early Tuesday morning before adding starting pitcher Chris Archer from the Tampa Bay Rays later in the day. Both of these pieces unquestionably make the team better, and now people are starting to believe that the 2018 season may not be a lost cause.

So while the team didn’t do itself any favors over the past nine games on the surface, the front office unquestionably put them in a position to compete both now and in the future.

Here is a breakdown of how the Pirates performed this past homestand, using a “report card” format. Let’s get into it.

Offense – the good

David Freese is finally making positive contributions after two years of being quite ‘meh.’ The veteran has been picking up the slack, and over the past week his role became more important with Josh Bell going to the DL. The outfield of Gregory Polanco, Starling Marte, and Corey Dickerson continues to be among the best in the National League, and have made sure that the Bucs are set at the top of the lineup.

Like Freese, Adam Frazier has come up big after a slow start, most notably delivering the eventual game-winning single in Friday’s 7-6 win over St. Louis. He also delivered a game-tying double on Saturday night, before the Pirate bullpen melted down in an 8-4 loss.

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I’ve said it in every review thus far, and it’s no less true now, for the Pirates to reach their maximum potential the offense has to be the team’s strong point. While the bats still have plenty of issues, Pittsburgh is getting contributions from several areas.

Offense – the bad

The Bucs were shut out by the Mets when somebody other than Jacob DeGrom was pitching, so that was probably the low point of this homestand.

The offense also struggled against Cole Hamels and didn’t get much done in the last 14 innings of the Cardinals’ series. The bats were just too inconsistent this week, and the Cardinals series, which started with a seven runs performance and ended with a one-run output, is an example of that.

Overall, the Pirates scored 35 runs over eight games, which was good for a little over four runs per contest. That’s not terrible, however, for the Bucs to make a playoff push, the bats will have to be more consistent

C

.

Bullpen – the good

Like the starting rotation with Archer, the ‘pen got better at the deadline with the addition of Kela. Aside from Kela, the Pirates relievers have come into their own over this hot 25-game stretch, and they are becoming a fun unit to watch.

Felipe Vazquez and Kyle Crick are filthy. Richard Rodriguez is a master at stranding baserunners, and Edgar Santana should thrive as more of a short-inning guy with Kela in the fold.

The ‘pen had to come up big on a few occasions, throwing 5.2 innings in this Friday’s win over the Cardinals, and four innings in last Friday’s win over the Mets. After some rough patches in 2018, the bullpen is coming into its own and should become even more enjoyable as the season rolls on.

Bullpen – the bad

Steven Brault pitched himself back to Triple-A, and Alex McRee happened. Those weren’t good things, and it would be nice to see Huntington add a short-inning reliever, preferably a left-handed one, to stabilize things when starters aren’t able to go seven, six or even five innings.

Overall, the bullpen is arguably the most exciting aspect about this team at the moment. Who’d have ever thought that would be the case?

A-

Overall

The most important thing to take from this homestand is that the Pittsburgh Pirates are better then they were when they left Cleveland nearly two weeks ago. As annoying as it was to lose two of three to the Cardinals, the buzz around this team is, well, existent, for the first time in what feels like forever.

As far as wins and losses go, the Pirates didn’t really take a step forward, but they didn’t hurt themselves too much, either. That said, If this club is to make a playoff push, which still seems unlikely, 4-5 stretches won’t cut it. Neither will 5-4 runs, and maybe not even 6-3.

Pittsburgh played average baseball for the first four months of the season, and this past homestand was a good example of that. The acquisitions of Kela and Archer have improved the team and raised expectations, and the two newcomers will need to live up to the hype for the Bucs to make a run.

Even if the Pirates don’t make the playoffs, they made themselves better this week, and that’s something that can’t be argued.

Overall Grade:

B