Pittsburgh Pirates: Slide Continues as Team is Swept by Nationals

The woes and struggles of the Pittsburgh Pirates continued as the team was swept in a three-game series against the Washington Nationals

When the Pittsburgh Pirates got off to a strong 12-11 start this season it appeared that the team may be able to play well enough to avoid a second-consecutive season as one of the worst teams in baseball. However, this has not been this case.

Since the team’s 12-11 start the Pittsburgh Pirates are 11-33. This drops their record on the season to 23-44, which is the second worst record in the National League behind just the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The latest rough series for the Pittsburgh Pirates came at a ballpark that has never been kind to them. This ballpark? Nationals Park in Washington D.C. To kick off the week the Pirates were swept by the also struggling Nationals in a three-game series in the nation’s capital.

During the sweep it was many of the same issues for the Pirates. Some good pitching performances wasted, a bad starting pitching performance and a series long struggle for the Pirate offense.

Before turning the page to look ahead to this weekend’s three-game Interleague series against the Cleveland Indians, let’s take a look back, if you dare, at the Pirates being swept by the Nationals. A sweep that ran their current losing streak up to 10 games in a row.

Pirate offense continues to struggle

Throughout the first two and a half months of the 2021 season the Pittsburgh Pirates have had one of the worst offenses in Major League Baseball. While Ke’Bryan Hayes and Colin Moran both missing chunks of time due to injury is a factor, the biggest factor is the Pirate lineup lacking depth and length.

Against the Nationals, the team’s offensive woes continued. The Pirates score just 4 runs while getting swept by the Nats. After scoring 2 runs in a 3-2 loss in the first game of the series, they scored just 1 run in each of the next two games.

In the series the Pirates collected just 24 base hits, drew 5 walks and hit just a single home run, a solo home run by Kevin Newman in the first game of the series. Outside of the Newman home run the Pirates collected just 6 other extra base hits in the series, all of which were doubles.

When the Pirates did have opportunities to score in the series, these opportunities were wasted. The team was just 4-for-18 with runners in scoring position during the series, leading to them leaving 24 runners on base.

The fact of the matter is the Pirate lineup is not very good right now. While the team can have a strong 1-4 with Adam Frazier, Hayes, Bryan Reynolds and Moran, Moran continues to battle the injury bug, making zero starts in the series, and Hayes is in a mini-slump. Without each of their top four hitting the ball well the Pittsburgh Pirates will struggle mightily to score.

Derek Shelton’s frustrating handling of the starting rotation

This series was a frustrating one for fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates in many ways. One of the frustrating parts of the series was manager Derek Shelton’s handling of the starting rotation, which is not a new frustration for fans.

In the game one loss Shelton pulled JT Brubaker after just 5 innings of work. Brubaker allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits and a pair of walks in his 5 innings of work, he had done this while throwing just 71 pitches.

46 of 71 Brubaker’s pitches went for strikes which is a strong 65% strike rate. He had also gotten ahead in the count to 16 of the 21 batters he faced. This was the second straight start in which Brubaker was pulled early leading to people scratching their heads.

Wednesday afternoon Chase De Jong also threw just 71 pitches before being pulled. While De Jong did walk 4 batters he had a near identical strike rate to Brubaker, throwing 62% of his pitches for strikes.

De Jong pitched just 4 innings in his start, limiting the Nationals to just 1 run. This lone run came on a solo home run by Yan Gomes. De Jong also did an excellent job of pitching out of a bases loaded with just 1 out jam in the 4th inning when he recording a strikeout and a soft infield pop out.

Yes, Brubaker is a young, promising arm and the Pittsburgh Pirates are likely looking to watch his workload after last season. That said, at some point the training wheels need to be taken off and he needs to be given the opportunity to start to learn to pitch deeper into games.

As for De Jong, he may be new to the Major Leagues but he is a grizzled veteran of the minor leagues. De Jong should be capable of going much deeper into a game than just 71 pitches. Especially when he had earned an opportunity to stay in the game after escaping potential disaster in the 4th inning.

So, what about the middle game of the series? Well, in the team’s loss on Tuesday night there is a strong argument to be made that Shelton left starter Tyler Anderson in the game too long. The veteran lefty was permitted to throw 102 pitches while allowing 6 runs on 10 hits, a grand slam, a walk and 4 strikeouts in 6 innings of work.

There is an argument to be made that Shelton needed length on Tuesday night leading to him leaving Anderson in the game longer than he otherwise would have, that same argument can be made for De Jong on Wednesday afternoon. Shelton’s decision when it comes to managing the starting rotation continue to often times be head scratching.