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3 Takeaways From Pittsburgh Pirates Series Loss vs Arizona Diamondbacks
The Pittsburgh Pirates have suffered their first series loss in the month of May after losing 2 of 3 against the Arizona Diamondbacks
Hug your friends, kiss your kids, say a prayer to the baseball gods, and rejoice. Why? Because the Pittsburgh Pirates do not play the Arizona Diamondbacks again this season. Yay!
After being swept by the Diamondbacks in a 4-game series at PNC Park last month, the Pirates entered this week’s 3-game series at Chase Field looking for revenge. Unfortunately, they were unable to make this happen. The Bucs were able to get a victory in the second game of the series, but the team still lost 2 of 3 in Phoenix.
For most of the series the Pirates did not pitch well, the offense was not good enough, and the team played poor defense. It was not a pretty series for the Bucs, and that is why it was their first series loss this month. However, they remain over .500 in terms of both series played this season (7-5-2) and overall record (21-19).
Next up for the Pirates is the final leg of their 11-game, 3-city road trip. Tonight, they will kick off a 4-game series against the surprising San Diego Padres. But before we look ahead to the Friars, let’s take a look back at 3 takeaways from their series loss against Arizona.
The Diamondbacks totally and completely dominated the Pirates this season
As I said above, thank the baseball gods that the Diamondbacks are not on the Pirate schedule again this season. In 7 games between the two teams the Pirates went 1-6 with a -43 run differential. Against the rest of baseball, the Pirates are 20-13 with a +4 run differential.
There really is no explanation for this. When the Diamondbacks came to PNC Park last month they were red hot, so the Snakes playing so well was not a total shocker. This week, however, they were coming off a series loss against the Atlanta Braves and their offense was struggling.
This season, a sure fire fix for a struggling Diamondbacks offense has been Pirate pitching. The Diamondbacks averaged 7.4 runs per game against the Pirates this season, while they’re averaging 4.7 runs per game against everyone else. 4.7 runs per game is nothing to sneeze at, but 7.4 would make them the greatest offensive team ever. But against the Pirates this season, that is exactly what the Diamondbacks looked like. Arizona could seemingly do no wrong against Pittsburgh this season.
Thankfully, the Pirates will not see the Diamondbacks again until 2020. Bring on the Padres!
Third base is a mess
Entering the season third base was a question mark for the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, there were reasons for optimism. Colin Moran finish 2018 strong – .306/.352/.459 slash line and 118 wRC+ in his final 108 plate appearances – and there was reason to believe he had turned a corner. Jung Ho Kang looked great last year in the minor leagues and this year in Grapefruit League play, giving hope he may find his old form.
Well, neither of these have happened. At least not yet.
After going 1-for-4 in Wednesday’s loss Moran is slashing .239/.317/.380 this season with a wRC+ of 88 (league average is 100). He’s walking in a healthy 10.6% of his at bats, but his 24.0% strikeout rate is a near 7% increase over last season. His 21.9% line drive rate is down nearly 5% from last season, and his 18.5% soft contact rate is up nearly 3%. Not good!
Before being placed on the 10-day injured list on Monday, Kang was slashing .133/.204/.300. His wRC+ is an abysmal 34 and he is striking out in an ugly 31.6% of his at bats. His 32.2% hard contact rate is, by far, a career low. So is his 15.3% line drive rate. Again, not good!
Third base defense has been porous as well. Moran owns a -51.4 UZR/150 this season, he’s been responsible for -1 defensive runs saved, and in Wednesday’s loss he committed his fourth error of the season, and it was a costly one. While Kang’s UZR/150 is 14.3 and his DRS is 0, he’s committed a trio of errors.
So, what do the Pirates do at third base?
Everyone will call for top hitting prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes. However, Hayes entered play on Wednesday with a .260/.347/.397 slash line and a 94 wRC+ at Triple-A. Not awful, but not worthy of a promotion to the MLB level either.
If Moran continues to struggle, do not be surprised to see more of Kevin Newman at third base. Newman started at third on Monday night in Arizona, and is slashing .333/.368/.444 with a 121 wRC+ this season. Defensively, he is much better suited for third base than shortstop. So, playing Newman at third base to get his hot bat in the lineup, especially this weekend in San Diego when the Bucs will likely face a trio of left-handed starters, is something fans may start to see more of.
There are still issues hitting with runners in scoring position
For much of the season, hitting with runners in scoring position has been a big issue for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In their series loss against the Diamondbacks, this continued. The team went 4-for-17 with RISP on Monday, 0-for-8 on Tuesday, and 1-for-6 on Wednesday.
While Monday’s loss was a lopsided 9-2 affair, the Pirates had opportunities to make it a competitive game, even with a poor pitching performance.
The Pirates scored 2 runs in the top of the 1st inning, but could have had more. Leading 2-0 with two men on base and just one out, Arizona starter Robbie Ray recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
Starling Marte tripled with one out in the 5th inning, but the Pirates did not score. In the 7th inning they had the bases were loaded with no one out. What followed? Three consecutive strikeouts. This made the Pirates 3-for-27 this season with the bases loaded. It does not take a baseball genius to realize that is not good.
With a better performance when hitting with RISP, Monday night’s game could have gone completely differently.
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In their last 23 games the Pirates are just 10-13. A big reason for this is due to the team going just 42-for-185 with RISP during this stretch. This MUST improve moving forward. If not, the Pirates are not going to remain in contention in the National League Central or the National League Wild Card race.