When asked what needs to be done to help alleviate the collective offensive issues the Pirates are currently experiencing, Jared Triolo noted it could simply take a few big hits for the bats to kick into gear again.
"We need to get contagious in the right way," Triolo said following the team's four-hit showing against the Red Sox Friday night. "I think it's going in the opposite way right now, but I think, with a couple hits, hitting is contagious."
On Saturday, there were some better results in a nine-hit effort against starter Kutter Crawford and two of the four arms that emerged from the Boston bullpen. Bryan Reynolds put together a three-hit performance, Triolo made a contribution with an RBI single in the fourth inning and Connor Joe did his part in a pinch-hit role, belting an eighth-inning home run that put more than one run on the board for the first time since Monday's 6-3 loss to the Mets.
But things still haven't turned around for this offense. The hits might be there, but the runs aren't. The Pirates went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, left eight runners on base and finished with a collective 10 strikeouts to match their rare 10-per-game average. The final result was a 4-2 setback to the Red Sox and a losing streak that swelled to five consecutive games.
"I didn’t think our approach was bad often today," Derek Shelton said. "It’s just when we had some crucial at-bats, in those situations we didn’t really execute our plan.”
The Pirates, who have now dropped eight of their last 10 games to fall to 11-10 on the year, had at least one hit in all but two innings and stranded runners in scoring position on three separate occasions. One of those moments was perhaps the most crucial of the game. Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, Michael A. Taylor singled to lead things off before Reynolds delivered with a one-out single and Ke'Bryan Hayes followed with a six-pitch walk to load the bases.
That brought up cleanup hitter Jack Suwinski, who was even in the count before fouling off a pair of cutters from Crawford. He wound up going down swinging on a splitter below the zone. Joey Bart followed and suffered the same fate. He was even at 2-2 and swung through a cutter on the outer third of the plate to leave the bases full.
“Right now, we’re in that stretch where even when we create opportunities, we’re not cashing in on them," Shelton said. “We were down 2-0. We had some opportunities, then we cut it. We had the opportunity when it was 2-1 to either tie the game or take the lead. In those situations, we just have to have better at-bats.”
Despite allowing seven hits and walking three, Crawford managed to keep the Pirates' bats at bay by surrendering just one run and striking out six. No pun intended, but the cutter was the pitch that gave more than just Suwinski and Bart trouble. Crawford threw it 37% of the time and generated seven whiffs and benefitted from eight called strikes.
It was a pitch even Shelton had to acknowledge.
"He did a nice job with it," he said. "He executed pitches when he had to, then there were a couple opportunities that we had to score and we’ve got to have better at-bats in those situations.”
It's no secret the Pirates' lack of run production has had a direct correlation to their recent struggles. In fact, when providing adequate run support in the form of four-plus runs, the team has produced a perfect 10-0 record this season. But when scoring less, as they have over each of their last five games, they are 1-10. The lone victory was a 3-2 triumph over the Orioles on April 7, a game in which they had to score two runs in the ninth to win.
"It’s just kind of the ebbs and flows of baseball sometimes," Reynolds said. "You’ve just got to score. Sometimes you go through little ruts. We’re in a rut right now. It’s still April 20. We’ve got time to make adjustments in the box, so we’re going to make adjustments.”
Reynolds wasn't the only person to mention the date on the calendar. Shelton did the same during his pregame press conference and Rowdy Tellez brought it up postgame in an effort to shine light on how early it is in the season.
"I think we've ran into some decent pitching. We've had some guys have some good outings. I think just putting together good at-bats, consistent at-bats is really all you can do," Tellez said. "We've certainly done it early. But I don't think there's anything too much to press about. I think a lot of guys are just not finding their groove right now. I think we're going to be good in the long run. It's April 20. What is that, 20 games? I think we'll get there."
For Tellez, who went 0 for 4 and did show his frustration in the form of slamming his bat on home plate following a fourth-inning popup in foul territory, said it's not hard to remember that there are still 141 games left to play. Because of that latter fact, he's not ready to push the panic button.
"Could have went our way. We could have done something a little different. We could have won that game. But it just happens," Tellez said. "Sometimes timely hitting and situations that we don't capitalize on, they come back to bite you. Good teams capitalize on those and you're not going to do it every time, but more often than not, we will. I'm not too worried about where this team is. We're young but we're good, and we have the right guys headed in the right direction."
