Pittsburgh Pirates: Poor 1st Inning Leads to Blow Out Loss at Wrigley Field

The Pittsburgh Pirates allowed 8 runs in the 1st inning on their way to being blown out by the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Monday night

Some times in sports it is just not going to be a team’s night. For the Pittsburgh Pirates it became obvious very early in Monday night’s game at Wrigley Field in Chicago that it was not going to be their night.

The Chicago Cubs scored 8 runs in the 1st inning, including a Willson Contreras grand slam, as they quickly put the game away. With the loss the Pittsburgh Pirates fall to 15-20 on the season, including being 4-3 against the Cubs.

Disastrous 1st inning

Dillon Peters started for the Pirates as their opener. Manager Derek Shelton planned on having Peters pitch the 1st inning before handing the ball to Bryse Wilson. Shelton wanted the outing from Peters to be a short one so that he would still be available to pitch on Wednesday.

Well, the outing by Peters wound up being even shorter than Shelton had hoped for. After allowing a base hit to 3 of the first 4 batters he faced, Peters quickly found himself and the Pirates trailing 1-0. Peters faced 7 batters, allowing 4 hits and issuing a walk.

Entering the night Peters had allowed just 5 hits to go with a 1.83 ERA and a 2.95 FIP. After his woeful 1st inning on Monday night Peters now has a 3.98 ERA and a 3.10 FIP on the season. The first pitch Peters threw was ripped by Contreras for a double and that proved to be a sign of things to come on the night.

Wilson did indeed follow Peters and did not fair much better. He allowed an infield hit to Andrelton Simmons, issued a bases loaded walk and then surrendered the grand slam to Contreras. Wilson allowed 4 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks and just 2 strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched. Between his poor results since joining the Pirates and flat stuff it is difficult to envision Wilson having a MLB future in Pittsburgh.

Get Roansy Contreras to the majors

Roansy Contreras is the top pitching prospect in the Pirate farm system. In fact, following a dominant 2021 season, Contreras is one of the fastest rising pitching prospects in baseball. Earlier this season Contreras pitched out of the Pirate bullpen and it was clear as day that he belongs in the majors. It is time to get him into the Pirate starting rotation.

The Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation is not good. Wilson is not a viable MLB starting pitcher, Mitch Keller has struggled, and Zach Thompson is still trying to find his footing, it is time to get Contreras into the starting rotation.

At this point it’s an easy move to make. Option Wilson back to Triple-A and promote Contreras. Let Contreras start every five days for the big club. He is likely going to be the Pirate ace for a long time, start letting him make regular starts in the majors and allow him to grow as a pitcher while facing MLB batters.

Offensive futility continues

Sunday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 despite failing to record a base hit. Monday night these woes continued as the team did not record a hit until the 5th inning.

Dating back to Saturday night’s victory over the Reds the Pirates went 13 consecutive innings without a hit. This including a 17 inning stretch in which their lone base hit as an infield hit. When Michael Chavis singled to break up Wade Miley’s perfect with two outs in the 5th inning, this broke a steak of 42 straight hitless at-bats which was tied with the Red Sox for the most in baseball this season.

The Chavis single was the lone base runner the Pirates had against Miley. Yoshi Tsutsugo and Rodolfo Castro singled in the 8th inning, but bother runners were stranded. These were the only other base runners of the night for the Pirates.

JT Brubaker (5.34 ERA, 4.32 FIP) will look to put together his 6th consecutive strong start when he toes the rubber for the Pittsburgh Pirates in game two of the series on Tuesday night. As of this writing the Cubs had not yet announced a starting pitcher. First pitch from Wrigley Field is scheduled for 7:40 PM ET.