Pittsburgh Pirates: Pitching, Newcomers Struggle & More Takeaways From Series Loss Against Cleveland

The pitching struggled, the newcomers struggled, and more takeaways from the Pittsburgh Pirates losing two of three against the Guardians

Things continue to get worse for the Pittsburgh Pirates and it didnt have to be this way. When this team had the best record in the National League at the end of April, everything was there for the taking. Especially in a mediocre at best division.

But Ben Cherington's internal projections said this team wasn't ready. Called them a 4th place team. Well, right now, they're a 5th place team, aka last place. At least last place is something Cherington is very familiar with. In his first seven seasons as an MLB general manager, Cherington's teams have finished last in their division six times, and all signs point toward 2023 making it seven times in eight seasons.

After their latest series loss the Pirates are now 11-17-1 in series played this season. A come from behind victory on Wednesday afternoon ended their post-All-Star Break losing streak, however, the team's slide continues as they are now 42-54 on the season.

Before looking ahead to the off day and a trip to Anaheim, let's take one more look back at the Cleveland series. Here are takeaways from the Pirates dropping yet another series, this one against the Guardians.

Pitching struggles

To say Pirate pitching struggled in this series would be a huge understatement. Facing a struggling Guardian team, Pirate pitching proceeded to make Tito Franco's group look like the 1927 New York Yankees.

Rich Hill had, by far, the best start of the series, but still allowed 4 runs on eight hits, a walk, and a strikeout in 5.2 innings pitched. Outside of Hill, the team's starting pitching was absolutely atrocious in this series.

Game two saw Mitch Keller turn in his worst start of the season allowing 8 runs in 6 innings pitched, including Keller putting the Pirates in a 5-0 1st inning hole. The opening game of the series saw Quinn Priester make his first career start, and allow 7 earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched.

The Pirate bullpen struggled as well.

Yohan Ramirez allowed a run in 1.2 innings pitched in game one, Dauri Moreta allowed a run in the 8th inning, and Yerry De Los Santos allowed a run in the 9th. Ramirez allowed 2 more runs in game two, this time via a home run.

After being handed a 7-4 lead, Ryan Borucki immediately allowed a home run to Josh Bell to lead off the top of the 8th inning in game three. Thankfully, Colin Holderman and David Bednar were then able to close the door on a Pirate victory.

An all-around bad series for Pirate pitching.

Offensive woes continue

Since the start of May the Pirate offense has been, well, bad. Those struggles continued in this series. Before going any further let's address the elephant in the room - hitting coach Andy Haines. Why Haines is still employed is a mystery. He was bad with the Brewers and derailed Christian Yelich. He's been bad with the Pirates. Haines needs to go.

As for this series, the Bucs were shutout in game one and the only run of game two came via a solo home run from Connor Joe. In game one the Pirates had just four hits and three walks while striking out 12 times. They were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.

Game two saw the Pirate offense record five hits, while they drew one walk and struck out 11 times. They went 0-for-3 with RISP and left four men on base. Worst of all, this came in a bullpen game for the Guardians.

The 7th inning of game three saw the Pirate offense show some life. Scoring 5 runs in the inning helped power the Pirates to a 7-5 victory, their lone victory in the series. Despite this, it was an overall poor series for an offense that has had far too many series like that since the start of May.