A Bad Week Could Be Looming & More Takeaways From Pittsburgh Pirates Series Loss vs Dodgers

Following a miserable series against the LA Dodgers, the Pirates are now 25-25 this season

Baseball can be a funny, unpredictable game. It can also be a brutal one. Right now, the Pittsburgh Pirates find themselves in a stretch like this.

Entering play this past Tuesday, the team was coming off a 7-4 road trip and an off day. The team, despite all the injuries, appeared to be sky high entering a six-game homestand. Well, after a 1-5 homestand they are now in danger of falling below .500.

After being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a series in which the Pirates were not even competitive, they’re now 25-25 on the season. This includes being 0-6 against the Dodgers, who, thankfully, the team does not play again this season. More alarmingly, they’re now 10-14 overall and 3-4-1 in series played at PNC Park. Being a sub-.500 team at home simply is not going to cut it.

Next up for the Pirates is a four-game series in Cincinnati. This will included a doubleheader on Memorial Day. But before we look ahead to the Reds, let’s examine three key takeaways of the team’s series loss against the Dodgers.

This could be a long week

The Pittsburgh Pirates are preparing to play four games in three days at Great American Ballpark. While the Reds are in last place, GABP is a great hitters park and the Pirate pitching staff is a mess right now.

The Bucs then return home for a four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers. On top of the Brewers being one of the best teams in the National League, the Pirates have not been good at home this season.

So, yeah, this might be a rough week.

Nick Kingham will start the first game on Monday and Steven Brault will start Wednesday. Neither of these pitchers have any business starting a MLB game. Due to playing eight games in seven days, at least one of them will have to make at least two starts this week. That or the team will have to turn to an opener again, which does not work when your pitching staff is in the current state of the Pirates staff.

Fans should be excited to watch Mitch Keller make his MLB debut tomorrow. Hopefully, he grabs a rotation spot by the horns and does not let go. Because, due to the current struggles of Joe Musgrove and Chris Archer, Jordan Lyles is the only pitcher in the rotation that can be counted on right now. Mix in a messy bullpen and that doesn’t not bode well for the Bucs this week.

So, about the Dodgers and Diamondbacks…

Maybe this is me trying to be overly optimistic. Maybe I’m grasping at straws. But against every team other than the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been pretty good this season.

The Bucs are a combined 1-12 against he Dodgers and Diamondbacks. Against the rest of baseball, they are 24-13. Thankfully, they’re done with both the Diamondbacks and Dodgers for the season.

The .649 winning percentage the Pirates own against teams other than the Dodgers and Diamondbacks is pretty damn good. But is it sustainable? Well, probably not. It wouldn’t be sustainable for any team. But they do need to continue to do well against every other team. That starts with the Reds and Brewers this week.

Can the Pirates continue their success against everyone else? We will find out this week. So far this season the Pirates are 5-1 against the Reds and they have not played the Brewers yet.

As we covered above, this week could be a rough one. It could also be a big bounce back week for the Bucs. As a wise man once said, time will tell.