Pittsburgh Pirates: Series Victory Slips Away, Takeaways From Series Loss Against the Diamondbacks

Offense looked close to breaking out, but more struggles would follow

Followng Friday night's 13-3 shellacking of the Diamondbacks it appeared the Pirate offense was finally starting to get into a groove again. After knocking around a very good starting pitcher in Eduardo Rodriguez as they defeated the Detroit Tigers 8-0 on Wednesday, they took it to another Cy Young candidate in Zac Gallen on Friday night.

Well, unfortunately, the offense failed to follow up these strong performances.

Facing a struggling Brandon Pfaadt on Saturday afternoon the Pirates were getting base runners early. Then in the 3rd inning, Ke'Bryan Hayes hit a 3-run triple to give the Bucs a 3-1 lead. At this point, it appeared the Pirate offense would be putting together another strong game.

Well, the Pirate offense would not score again in th game. A big moment came in the 4th inning when Ji Hwan Bae singled to start but was thrown out trying to steal second base. This was followed by a Josh Palacios single. What could have been two on with no one out, became one on with one out and no more runs were scored.

After the Palacios 4th inning single the Pirates only had two more base runners the rest of the game. Finishing the day 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Sunday afternoon the Pirates were gifted a run by poor defense and a wild pitch, then scored a pair on a Tucupita Marcano double. Otherwise, the offense did next to nothing in their 7-3 loss. The Pirates were held to just three hits, all of which came in the 5th inning. You read that correctly, the Pirates were no hit in 8 of the 9 innings on Sunday.