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

Even though their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks was there for the taking, the Pittsburgh Pirates still have not won a series in the month of May

The May struggles for the Pittsburgh Pirates continue. After losing two of three at PNC Park against the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend, the Pirates are now a miserable 4-13 through the first 17 games this month.

With this series loss, the Pirates are now 6-7-2 in series played this season. Other than when they dropped their season opening series against teh Cincinnati Reds, this marks the first time this series the Pirates have been under .500 in series played.

Overall, the Pirates are now 24-22 on the season. Inching closer and closer to being back below .500 on the season. Next up for the Pirates is a very challenging series against the Texas Rangers. Before we look ahead to the Rangers, let's take a look back at their series loss against the Diamondbacks.

The Pirates should have won this series

This series was 100% there for the taking. Game two on Saturday saw the Pirates snatch defeat from teh jaws of victory. Honestly, that loss was one of the most frustrating ones the Pirates have had thus far this season.

With Mitch Keller, who has become one of the best starting pitchers in baseball, was on the rubber and the Pirates handed him a 3-1 lead. At that point it appeared the Pirates were well on their way to a series victory, especially with Keller in cruise control.

Well, after some very poor managerial decisions by Derek Shelton and the offense failing to do more against a struggling pitcher the Bucs fell 4-3. When series victories are there for the taking you need to seal the deal. Very similar to their series loss against the Rockies earlier this month, this was a series the Pirates should have won. The loss on Saturday and that loss in game three against the Rockies are currently keeping the Pirates out of first place in the NL Central.

Sunday's final score was 7-3, but early on the game was there for the taking. Poor defense hurt the Pirates, as did a lack of offense. Derek Shelton once again going to Robert Stephenson in a close game for some reason didn't help, either.

Catching situation needs to change... now

At this point there is not much else to be said about the Pirate catching situation. Austin Hedges is hitting .167/.250/.208 with a 31 wRC+, he has struggled to control the opposing running game and has struggled with pitches in the dirt.

After going 0-for-3 on Sunday, Jason Delay is 3-for-20 this month with a walk and eight strikeouts. Delay benefitted from a batting average on balls in play of nearly .500 in April, with that number starting to level out the Pirate backstop is back to being the poor hitter he's always been.

There's a strong argument to be made that Sunday afternoon's loss was on Delay more than any other pitcher. Pirate pitchers threw four wild pitches, however, all four were pitches that Delay should have blocked. Honestly, three of the four should have been ruled passed balls. These wild pitches led to a pair of Arizona runs. Without these pitches getting past Delay, the Pirates easily could have been leading 3-2 after 6 innings.

Delay also committed a throwing error on Sunday after that helped contribute to a late inning insurance run for Arizona. Entering the game his Defensive Runs Saved this season was -2, and Sunday was another poor defensive game for Delay.

At this point, neither Hedges nor Delay are starting level catchers in the majors. Honestly, Delay probably isn't even a MLB level catcher. Keeping Henry Davis in the minors where he is dominating offensively is just flat out wrong.

Is Davis a finished product as a catcher? No, not at all. However, it's hard to believe he'd be wrose defensively than Delay. Add in the fact Davis has an elite offensive ceiling and would be a massive upgrade over Hedges and Delay offensively, and it's time for the former no. 1 overall pick to get the call to the majors.