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Pittsburgh Pirates: Grading Series Loss at Great American Ballpark
Stop me if you have heard this before… but the 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates have lost yet another series. Now, let’s hand out grades for the latest series loss.
The 2020 season has been a long, painful one for the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fans. This week, that pain continued when the team traveled to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.
Playing a four-game series due to a doubleheader on Monday, the Pirates lost the series against the Reds. This was just a sign of things to come. When the dust settled, the Pirates were swept in a four-game series by the Reds.
With the series loss, the Pirates are now a woeful 1-11-2 in series played this season. 1-11-2. That is unfathomably bad. A team would almost have to try to be that bad in series played. Yet, here we are. Mericfully, this season is almost over.
Anyway, as has been the case throughout this season we will ahnd out series grades for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We will be grading the performance the team’s starting pitchers, bullpen and offense in the series.
Now, let’s dive in by first grading the performance of the team’s starting pitchers in the series loss against the Reds.
Pirate Starting Pitchers
Cody Ponce and Mitch Keller started in the two games on Monday’s doubleheader. Ponce turned in yet another strong start for the Pirates allowing just 1 run. The lone run he allowed came on a solo home run, which was also the lone hit he allowed. Ponce walked two and struck out three.
The problem is Ponce only pitched 4 innings. Getting just 4 innings out of your starting pitcher is never good enough. This is especially true when that pitcher is starting in a game that is part of a double header.
Keller returned from the injured list to start game two on Monday night. Keller, like Ponce, would have a short start lasting just 3 innings. While he allowed just two hits, he was charged with 3 runs and he walked a career-high four batters. Keller’s velocity was higher than his two pre-IL starts, but he still struggled to generate swings-and-misses and he struggled with control.
Joe Musgrove started for the Bucs on Wednesday night. With one out in the 1st inning and the bases loaded, Musgrove hit Mike Moustakas with a pitch, which was foolowed by a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring hit. After allowing a home run to lead off the 2nd inning, Musgrove settled in.
Musgrove retired 12 of the final 14 batters he faced, including striking out the final three. In his 5 innings of work, he struck out eight batters and only walked one. While there were plenty of positives from his start, his 1st inning issues led to him allowing 4 runs and his outing being just 5 innings. This brings down his overall grade from the start.
Wednesday night was the best start of the series for a Pirate starting pitcher. In 5.1 innings pitched, JT Brubaker allowed just 1 run on five hits, no home runs, a walk, and four strikeouts. Despite the strong start, the team still lost on Wednesday night.
The Verdict
Starting pitching continues to be a major problem for the Pittsburgh Pirates. This season, the performance of their starting pitchers has not been good enough. Period. That continued in their series loss against the Reds.
Grade: D+
Pirate Bullpen
Monday’s doubleheader was not kind to a Pirate bullpen that has pitched very well since mid-August.
Chris Stratton pitched a scoreless 5th inning in game one, but had to work out of a bases loaded jam in order to do so. Sam Howard then pitched 1.2 innings in game two, and allowed a walk off 2-run home run to Tyler Stephenson in the 7th inning.
In game two, Derek Holland replaced Keller and went on to pitch 1.1 innings. Holland allowed a run, but it was a run that scored after he was pulled and Nik Turley allowed a 3-run home run to Moustakas. Geoff Hartlieb then had his first outing of what has been a terrific season, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, while walking four batters without recording an out.
In 5.2 innings pitched on Monday, the Pirate bullpen allowed 8 runs on seven hits, seven walks, two home runs, and nine strikeouts.
Tuesday night the bullpen got back on track. In relief of Musgrove, Blake Cederlind made his MLB debut and fired a 1-2-3 inning. Holland then followed with 2 scoreless, hitless innings. The veteran lefty retired all six batters he faced, while also recording a strikeout.
Wednesday night was another strong night for the bullpen. Howard, Stratton and Turley combined to pitched 2.2 scoreless innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Verdict
For the better part of the month the bullpen has been a strength for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, the ‘pen had a rough day on Monday. With a better outing from the bullpen, the Bucs likely would have won at least one of the games in Monday’s doubleheader, if not picking up a sweep.
Grade: C+
Pirate Offense
The 2020 season has been an offensive struggle for the Pittsburgh Pirates from the start. While being swept by the Reds, these struggles continued.
In four games played, the Pittsburgh Pirates scored just six runs. Not good!
The Pittsburgh Pirates were just 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the series. This included not having a single at-bat with a RISP in Wednesday night’s loss. This included the Pirates leaving 22 runners on base in the series. 22 runners left on base. Yeah, not good!
In this series Josh Bell‘s hitting streak grew to 10 games. Ke’Bryan Hayes continues to kill the baseaball as well, as he leads MLB in average exit velocity since he made his MLB debut. That said, this is not enough for the Pirate offense.
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The Verdcit
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this season the Pirate offense has received this grade for a series performance this season. Sadly, odds are, it will not be the last time this season they receive this grade, either. What grade is it? A failing grade.
Grade: F