Pittsburgh Pirates: Struggles Against the Cubs Continue, More Takeaways From Being Swept at Wrigley

In arguably the worst series the Pittbsurgh Pirates have played all season they got swept by the struggling Chicaog Cubs

Hoo boy that was probably the worst series the Pittsburgh Pirates have played all season.

After being swept, the Pirates are now 34-33 on the season and 10-9-1 in the 20 series they have palyed. Somehow, the Bucs are still in first place in the National League Central a half a game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers and one game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds.

Next up for the Pittsburgh Pirates is a critical three-game weekend series at their other house of horrors in Milwaukee. Before we look ahead to the Brewers, let's take one more look back at the series in Chicago with our series takeaways.

Struggles against the Cubs continue

In baseball series between teams tend to go through ebbs and flows the same way basbeall seasons do. Well, for the Pittsburgh Pirates, they are currently stuck in a very deep valley against the Chicago Cubs.

The Pirates have now lost nine straight series against the Cubs. Considering the Cubs have not been very good in recent seasons, this season included, this is, well, bad. Additionally, the Pirates have really struggled at Wrigley Field. Dating back to the start of the 2015 season the Pirates are 22-48 at Wrigley Field.

The Friendly Confines have been anyhting but friendly to the Bucs.

Wrigley Field can be a difficult place to play but that extended of struggles is ridiculous. It's similar to what has seemingly been 10+ years of struggling in Milwaukee, there is no way to explain it and no rhyme or reason to it.

Ian Happ owns his hometown team

Between how loaded the Cubs were in the mid-2010s and now the team being bad in recent seasons, Pittsburgh area native Ian Happ ha sort of flown under-the-radar. He has done anything but fly under-the-radar when playing against the Pirates, though.

It was another big series for the Mt. Lebanon graduate. Happ hit a 3-run home run in the 1st inning of Tuesday night's Pirate loss, then delivered the backbreaking go-ahead 2-run single for the Cubs in Wednesday night's hellacious 6th inning. Thursday night he singled in the first Cub run of the night in the 3rd inning, then in the 5th inning he doubled in a run to tie the game at 2.

He also flashed some leather in the series. With two outs in the 4th inning on Thursday night Happ went full extension to make a diving catch to rob Ji Hwan Bae of extra bases. Yeah, Happ owns his hoemtown club.

Happ has now reached base in 34 straight games (if he gets on base Thursday) against the Pirates. The second longest streak for any player in history against the Bucs. The longest consecutive games on-base streak of all-time against the Bucs? That belongs to Stan Musial. Happ has 20 games to go to reach Musial's mark of 54 games, and that seems more than possible.

Terrible series for the bullpen

For much of the season the bullpen has been a big strength for the Pirates. Against the Cubs, however, the bullpen was anything but a strength. Fittingly since this may have been the worst series the Pirates played all season, the bullpen had their worst series of the season as well.

In the series opening loss, the Pirate bullpen let the game slip away. Dauri Moreta failed to strand inheirted runners, something he has done so well this season, and then Yohan Ramirez allowed 4 runs while recoridng just one out. Rob Zastryzny pitched the final 1.2 innings of the night, allowing 3 more runs in the process.

In game two the bullpen was handed a 5-1 lead. After Roansy Contreras pitched a 1-2-3 5th inning things came completely unglued in the 6th inning. Contreras seemed to completely lose it on the mound allowing 5 runs in the 6th. Ramirez had another poor outing. He failed to strand runners, made a very poor defensive play, and allowed a run of his own.

After Angel Perdomo pitched a scoreless 7th inning, Colin Holderman allowed 3 runs on four hits and a walk while getting just two outs in the 8th. The struggling Holderman was then placed on the injured list following the outing.

Game three saw the bullpen melt down yet again.

Jose Hernandez took over for Johan Oviedo with the game tied. The only out Hernandez would record came via a sacrfice bunt that scored a run. He allowed both runners he inherited to score, while allowing 2 runs of his own on two hits and a walk. While Perdomo and Zastryzny would pitch scoreless innings of relief, Yerry De Los Santos allowed a run in 1.1 innings pitched.

The Pirate bullpen was the main reason they lost game two of the series and an argument can be made they were the main culprit in game three as well. Just an all around awful, awful series for the Pirate releif corp.