3 Takeaways From The Pittsburgh Pirates Being Swept By The Diamondbacks

It was an ugly, ugly series for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Arizona Diamondbacks this week. Mercifully, it is over.

There was a point in time when the San Diego Padres seemingly never lost at PNC Park. Now, those sentiments are true about another National League West team – the Arizona Diamondbacks.

This week, the Diamondbacks came into PNC Park and swept a four-game series against the Pirates. With this sweep, the Diamondbacks have now won 10 games in a row at PNC Park. Following this series, the Pirates are now just one game over .500 this season at 12-11.

Prior to getting swept by the Diamondbacks the Pirates were among the hottest teams in baseball. The Bucs had won three series in a row, and were 6-2 overall in those series. However, the team’s hot streak has now stopped in its tracks.

It was an ugly series for the Pirates. The team did not pitch well, played poor defense, and the offense was non-existent after the 5th inning of game one on Monday night.

Next up for the Bucs is a trip to the West Coast for a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. But before the Pirates kick off their series against the Dodgers, let’s take a look at a trio of takeaways from being swept by Arizona.

The 1st inning twice spelled doom

On Monday night, the Pirates appeared primed to jump out to a big lead early on in the opening game of the series. In the bottom of the 1st inning the Pirates had the bases loaded with just one out and Colin Moran stepping to the plate. Moran worked a 3-2 count, but then went down swinging on a pitch that would have been ball four. Bryan Reynolds then grounded out to end the inning.

Failing to put up a crooked number early on came back to bite the Pirates. The team failed to bury the Diamondbacks early, and it led to a blowout loss.

In Wednesday night’s game three, a poor 1st inning by the Pirates again set the tone for the game. This time, however, it came in the top half of the inning.

With one out, a runner on first, and the Diamondbacks ahead 1-0, starting pitcher Jordan Lyles made a throwing error. This throwing error gave Arizona runners on second and third with one out, instead of a runner on second with two outs. This led to a sacrifice fly, and a 2-0 Diamondback lead.

The Diamondbacks quickly struck in game four, too. The Snakes bit starter Jameson Taillon for a pair of runs in the top of the 1st inning, and, once again, the Bucs quickly found themselves in a hole.

There is no way of knowing how differently, if at all, games three and four would have gone if not for the error. But it sure would have been nice to know.

Hitting with runners in scoring position was a major issue

The Pittsburgh Pirates offense is not built around power or the long ball. Due to this, the team must manufacture runs and take advantage of the scoring opportunities they generate. Against Arizona, they did not do this.

On Monday night, the team went 4-for-13 with RISP. This prevented them from busting the game wide open and kept it close, allowing Arizona to rally past the Bucs and eventually blow them out. The Bucs went 1-for-10 with RISP in game two, this was the biggest factor in their 2-1 loss on Tuesday night. They were then 0-for-6 in game three and 0-for-3 in game four on Thursday afternoon.

Going 5-for-32 with RISP simply is not going to cut it. Especially against an offense as potent as Arizona’s. The Bucs drew just three walks with RISP, one of which was intentional, and collected just two extra base hits in these situations. All of them came in game one.

Hitting with RISP has been a problem throughout the season for the Pirates. It was a big reason the team got swept in their two-game series against the Cardinals earlier this month, and it was a major role in getting swept this week by Arizona as well. Hopefully, the bats will pick up with RISP this weekend in LA.