Pittsburgh Pirates: Rich Hill Struggles in Loss, Bucs Now 1-4 on Road Trip

After getting blown out in game one of their three-game series in Arizona the Pittsburgh Pirates are 1-4 on their current seven-game road trip

Things continue to go poorly for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Friday night the Pirates dropped their series opener in Arizona by a score of 7-3. Following the loss against the Diamondbacks, the Pirates are now 1-4 on their current road trip and 40-48 overall on the season.

On April 30th the Pirates owned a NL best 20-8 record. Since then, the Pirates are a miserable 20-40. Woof.

Poor 3rd inning, Rich Hill struggles

Entering the bottom of the 3rd inning the game was scoreless. However, this is when Pirate starter Rich Hill would run into trouble. When the 3rd inning dust settled, an inning filled with Pirate mishaps, Hill and the Pirates found themselves in a 4-0 hole.

Jake McCarthy drew a walk off of Hill to start the 3rd inning. Walking a nine hitter is bad enough, but McCarthy then stole second base despite being picked off due to a slow delivery by Hill. With runners on the corners and no one out, McCarthy then scored on a bunt single where no one covered first base.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then launched a 3-run home run, and it was 4-0 Diamondbacks. Even though it would not hurt the Pirates, Arizona got two more infield hits in the inning. Two infield hits that should have been outs, the second of which saw Tucupita Marcano attempt to make a well above average play by throwing to first base instead of taking the easy force out at second base.

Low IQ baseball.

Leading off the 4th inning Hill decided to walk McCarthy to lead off the inning again.

McCarthy once again took off for second base. Once again, McCarthy was picked off, and, once again, McCarthy was safe at second base. This time due to a poor throw from Hill that sailed into the outfield. McCarthy would then score on a Gurriel Jr. double, making it 5-0 Arizona.

Hill allowed 5 runs on seven hits, four walks, a home run, and three strikeouts in 4 innings pitched. For the season, the veteran lefty now owns a 4.68 ERA and a 4.44 FIP in 98.0 innigns pitched across 18 starts.

Bucs score in the 5th inning

Once again starting at third base with Ke'Bryan Hayes back on the injured list one day after being activated, Jared Triolo continued the strong start to his MLB career with a one-out double in the 5th inning. Triolo, who has now reached base safely in seven of his nine games, came around to score on a Marcano single.

Austin Hedges. Defense is so good. Amazing. Phenomenal. He just MUST play every day.

Yohan Ramirez relieved Hill and pitched a scoreless 5th inning. He appeared to be on his way to a scoreless 6th inning as well. Well, that was until the amazing defense of Austin Hedges took over. You know, the same defense that the Pirates have told us is just oh so good that he must catch every day. Defense so terrific that the idea of Henry Davis or Endy Rodriguez catching in MLB games is preposterous.

With two runners on base and two outs in the 6th inning, Arizona attempted a double steal. A double steal that saw Hedges throw the ball into the outfield allowing Corbin Carroll to come around to score. Christian Walker then doubled in a run, making the score 7-1 Diamondbacks.

Due to the Hedges error only 1 of the 2 runs allowed by Ramirez in his 2 innings of work were earned. But, hey, don't forget how good that Hedges defense is. Phenomenal. Amazing. The best. Calls a great game. Can go talk to his pitcher on the mound. Who cares about his 27 wRC+ and .468 OPS? This joke of a front office certainly doesn't.

Next up

In his final start before making his first career All-Star appearance, Mitch Keller (3.52 ERA, 3.30 FIP) will start for the Pirates and look to finish strong before the break. As of this writing, Arizona had yet to announce a starting pitcher. First pitch from Chase Field is scheduled for 4:10 PM ET.