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Everything Goes Wrong for the Pittsburgh Pirates in Series Loss
The Pittsburgh Pirates had a little bit of everything go wrong as they were swept in a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals this past weekend
Entering this past weekend’s series against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing some strong baseball. This strong baseball from the Pirates came after the team rebounded from a poor 1-6 start to the season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates entered the weekend with a record of 11-6 in their previous 17 games played. This included the Pirates being 4-0-2 in their previous 6 series played. However, following their weekend series against those no good, dirty ,rotten, black magic using, evil Red Birds, the Pirates have been swept for the second time this season.
After being swept by the Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates are now 4-3-2 in their 9 series played this season. Due to two of their three series losses resulting in the Pirates being swept, the Bucs are 12-15 overall on the season, despite having a winning record in series played.
While the Pirates did not play as poorly as they did when they were swept but the Cincinnati Reds early last month, this series was the worst baseball the Pirates have played all season outside of that series. The starting pitching, bullpen, defense and offense all had low light moments in the series sweep.
Up and down weekend for the starting pitching
JT Brubaker started for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night. While he allowed 3 earned runs in 5 innings pitched, it was not all Brubaker’s doing. He was plagued by some poor defense in left field by Ka’ai Tom, a problem that would also plague Pirate pitchers on Saturday night.
With better defense, and some better umpiring, there’s a good shot that the lone run Brubaker would have allowed would have been the solo home run he surrendered. Despite this being Brubaker’s worst start of the season thus far, he still owns a 2.63 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 4.4% walk rate and a 26.5% strikeout rate in 27.1 innings pitched in his 5 starts this season.
Saturday night the 1st inning woes continued to plague Trevor Cahill. After allowing 4 runs in the 1st inning, Cahill settled down and allowed just 1 run across the next 4.1 innings of work. On the season Cahill has now allowed 11 runs in the 1st inning this season. Outside of the 1st inning he has allowed 9 earned runs. This gives him a 4.24 ERA, more than good enough for a 5th starter, outside of the 1st inning this season.
It might be time the Pittsburgh Pirates consider using an opener on nights Cahill is slated to pitch.
Sunday afternoon Wil Crowe turned in a strong start for the Pirates. Unfortunately, due to one bad pitch to Harrison Bader it did not appear that way. That bad pitch to Bader resulted in a 3-run home runs. These were the only runs of the game in a 3-0 Cardinal victory.
Crowe allowed just 3 hits, walked 4 and struck out 2 batters in the start. He also pitched a career high 5 innings in the start. However, it was not enough as the Pirate offense was non-existent in the loss.
A rough weekend for the Pirate bullpen
Through the first month of the season the bullpen was a strength for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The bullpen was due for a poor series, and, unfortunately, that poor series came this past weekend as they were swept by the Cardinals.
Friday night the nearly un-hittable Duane Underwood Jr. got touched up when he allowed a two-out 3-run pinch-hit home run to Matt Carpenter. This made a 3-1 game 6-1 and put it out of reach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Saturday night, Underwood Jr. allowed a pair of runners he inherited form Sam Howard to score.
Sean Poppen had a disastrous outing on Saturday night. He took the ball in the top of 9th with the Pirates trailing just 7-5, but he allowed 5 runs. This included allowing a home run and a miserable throwing error by Poppen.
While Luis Oviedo, Kyle Crick and Richard Rodriguez combined to pitched 4 scoreless innings on Sunday afternoon, overall, it was a poor weekend for the Pirate bullpen. In 11.2 innings of work this weekend, the Pirate bullpen allowed 11 runs and a pair of home runs. Hopefully, the reliable Bucco bullpen will bounce back against the Padres.
A lackluster weekend from the Pirate bats
Friday night the Pittsburgh Pirates mustered just 3 runs on just 4 hits. Saturday night the Pirate offense cranked out 9 hits, but they scored just 5 runs. Sunday afternoon the Bucs were shutout on 5 hits.
Scoring a combined 8 runs in a three-game series is typically not a recipe for success. This is exactly what the Pittsburgh Pirates experienced over the weekend. The most frustrating game of the weekend for the offense was Friday night. While the team collected just 5 hits they did draw 9 walks. However, they failed to capitalize.
Overall, the Pittsburgh Pirates were just 5-for-22 with runners in scoring position over the weekend. Their woes with RISP led to the Pirates leaving 20 runners on base over the weekend against the Cardinals.
Roansy Contreras Tabbed Opening Day Starter at Double-A. dark. Next
The power stroke was also missing over the weekend. There was not a single home run hit by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the series. Saturday night, Bryan Reynolds and Gregory Polanco each hit a double. Reynolds and Jacob Stallings doubled Sunday afternoon. These were the lone extra base hits for the Pirates over the weekend.