Pittsburgh Pirates Bats Remain Ice Cold As Steven Matz Dominates

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 27: Clint Hurdle #13 of the Pittsburgh Pirates argues with home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt #21 after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes during the first inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field on July 27, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 27: Clint Hurdle #13 of the Pittsburgh Pirates argues with home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt #21 after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes during the first inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field on July 27, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)

The Pittsburgh Pirates fall to the New York Mets by the score of 3-0 as Steven Matz hurls a complete game shutout. Bats remained silent, a costly error by Jung-Ho Kang, and Trevor Williams continues to fall victim to the long ball. 

There has been nothing to cheer about as a Pittsburgh Pirates fan in the past couple weeks as they are now 2-13 since the all-star break. Not to mention that they have dropped their 7th straight with tonight’s loss to the Mets. This game flew by as Matz dominated the Buccos lineup.

Clint Hurdle was ejected in the 1st inning after Starling Marte was called out on strikes by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Marte made sure to have a word with the umpire as he was walking back to the dugout and Hurdle stepped in to avoid his centerfielder being ejected. This was the Pirates managers 3rd ejection of the season.

The bats have been stagnant to say the least in the stretch coming out of the all-star break. It was more of the same on Saturday night with how Matz pitched. He shutout the Pirates as he went the distance while only allowing 5 hits. This is the first time in his career that he has pitched into the 9th inning. Matz hasn’t pitched into the 8th inning since the 2016 season. Kevin Newman tallied another multi-hit game in this contest.

Trevor Williams also pitched well as he went 7 innings allowing 3 ER’s on only 4 hits. The long ball has been this teams problem as of late and Williams surrendered 2 more this evening to Michael Conforto and J.D Davis. Davis’s home run came in the 7th inning immediately after a error by SS Jung-Ho Kang.

This has been a reoccurring theme with the Pirates. Inability to hit home runs, allowing home runs, and fielding errors. It has been tough going as of late for this team. There isn’t much hope if any for the rest of this season, so with the trade deadline vastly approaching, it will be interesting to see the direction Neal Huntington decides to go in. The Pirates will conclude this series against the Mets tomorrow afternoon in Flushing.

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