3 Takeaways From Pittsburgh Pirates Series Loss vs Arizona Diamondbacks

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PHOENIX, ARIZONA – MAY 14: Native Arizonian Cole Tucker #3 of the Pittsburgh Pirates celebrates after hitting a two-run home run off of Zack Godley #52 of the Arizona Diamondbacks during the eighth inning at Chase Field on May 14, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) /

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.

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