Pittsburgh Pirates: Henry Davis First MLB Scuffles, More Takeaways From Losing 2 of 3 in Arizona

Henry Davis is hitting his first MLB scuffles, the bullpen stepped up in a big way in the series finale, and more takeaways from the Pittsburgh Pirates losing two of three in Arizona

Things continue to unravel in a hurry for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates were looking to finish on a high note prior to the All-Star Break and to establish some momentum heading into the break. Unfortunately, they were unable to do that in Phoneix.

After losing two of three against the Arizona Diamondbacks the Pirates are now 8 games under .500 at 41-49. They are now 11-15-1 in series played and this sweep capped off a poor 2-5 road trip heading into the break. Going back to the end of the last homestand, they will head into the All-Star losers in 7 of their last 9 games played.

The worst part about this is that the Pirates were once 20-8. A National League best 20-8. Since then, the team has gone 21-41. After owning the best record in the NL at the end of April the Pirates have proceeded to play at a 54-108 pace the past 10 weeks. Woof.

Before settling in for the All-Star Break and what's to come afterward, let's take one last look back at this series in the desert. Here are series takeaways from the Pirates losing two of three against the Diamondbacks.

First MLB struggles for Henry Davis... sorta

After being selected no. 1 overall by the Pirates in the 2021 MLB Draft, Henry Davis found plenty of offensive success in the minors leagues. With the exception of when he was injured, Davis was hitting the ball.

Davis started his MLB career by picking up where he left off at in the minors. Through his first 65 MLB plate appearances Davis was hitting for a .288/.354/.390 slash line with his 1st career home run, a 7% walk rate, and a 26% strikeout rate.

Well, dating back to the end of their series in Los Angeles last week through this series in Arizona, Davis has started to struggle. In the team's past four games Davis is 0-for-12 with two strikeouts. However, he has drawn three walks and has been hit by pitch.

There are encouraging signs, though. One of which is that Davis is still hitting the ball hard.

During this four game skid he still owns a 40% hard-hit rate and an average exit velocity of 89 MPH, both which are above league average. This includes a 109 MPH bullet that Davis hit in game three on Sunday that looked ticketed for the right field corner until Arizona third baseman Emmanuel Rivera made a terrific leap grab of to rob Davis. Davis has continued to work counts and take pitches, he's also been hurt at times by pitches out of the zone being called strikes but that is also a testament to his pitch selection and patience at the plate.

As long as Davis keeps his regular approach at the plate he should be just fine. To steal a Clint Hurdle-ism the league has punched Davis for the first time in his career, now it's time for the youngster to punch back.

Mitch Keller continues to play stopper

One of the positives from this season has been the continued growth of Mitch Keller. Being named an All-Star for the first time in his career, the righty had blossomed into the ace of the Pirate pitching staff.

In this series in Arizona, Keller put that on display. When his team was in dire need of it Keller played stopper. It was not the first time this year Keller put a foot down and played stopper when his team needed him to. Problem is, this time, the rest of the team let him down in a 3-2 10 inning loss on Saturday.

Keller pitched 5.2 hitless innings to start the game. The two-out single he allowed in the 6th inning was the lone hit he allowed in 7 scoreless innins pitched. Keller did battle his command at times walking five batters, but he also struck out four while generating six swings-and-misses. He also mixed in his patented looking strikes that freeze batters.

When Keller exited the game the Pirates led 1-0. They appeared to be on their way to a victory on the back of Keller pitching a gem and once again playing stopper. The Pirate ace, once again, did his job in his start.

Unfortunately, Colin Holderman took over in the 8th inning and immediately allowed a game tying home run. After pitching a scoreless 9th inning, some poor defense and luck burnt David Bednar in the 10th inning as the Pirates were walked off, wasting Keller's start.

Bullpen steps up in game three

The lone victory of the series came on the back of the Pirate bullpen. Without a starting pitcher available, the Pirates went with a bullpen game on Sunday. Seven Pirate pitchers stepped up to help the team pick up a victory.

Carmen Mlodzinski started, pitching 1.1 hitless innings. Mlodzinski walked a pair and struck a batter out. However, he was charged with an unearned run due to an Austin Hedges throwing error in the 1st inning.

Ryan Borucki followed Mlodzinski. Borucki allowed a solo home run, but retired the other five batters he faced to go with three strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched.

Pitching on three days rest, Osvaldo Bido made his first MLB relief appearance. He allowed a lead off double in the 4th inning but did a great job of stranding the runner. Bido went on to pitch 1.1 scoreless innings.

Angel Perdomo allowed a hit in a scoreless inning pitched. Yerry De Los Santos inherited a runner on third base with just one out in the 6th inning, but two ground ball outs to strand the runner. De Los Santos then fired a scoreless 7th inning.

The 8th inning saw Colin Holderman bounce back after blowing an 8th inning lead in game two to post a zero. Then in the 9th inning, it was David Bednar time. Like Holderman, Bednar was able to bounce back from failing to hold a lead in game two. After issuing a walk to star the bottom of the 9th, the NL All-Star retired the next three batters to close out the Pirate victory.

Jared Triolo showing the clutch gene so far

Jared Triolo was not been the majors very long. His MLB career is off to a strong start, however. Through his first 44 MLB plate appearances Triolo is hitting .300/.364/.350 with a 7% walk rate and a 100 wRC+.

What Triolo has done best at the plate is flash the "clutch gene."

Saturday afternoon Triolo gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead in the 10th inning with a go-ahead hit. Unfortunately, that lead was one the Pirate failed to hold. Sunday afternoon he had a big hit in the 8th inning to drive in a run, extending the Pirate lead to 4-2.

Again, it's a very small sample size, but Triolo is off to a 6-for-10 start with runners in scoring position in his MLB career. There is something to be said about a hitter who can keep their heartbeat down, stay calm, and come through in big situations. That is something that Triolo has done thus far.