Pirates Morning Report: Nine Hits, No Runs, Nine Losses

Final Score: Pirates 0 Padres 3

Why The Pirates Loss: Oneil Cruz and Bryan Del La Cruz both made errors on routine plays which led to 2 unearned runs. David Peralta’s solo home run in the bottom of the 5th would have been enough to win with these incompetent bats. The Pirates did get 9 hits but could not get a run because they struck out 15 times, hit into 2 double plays, left 8 men on base, and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. In one stretch of the game 7 of the 9 outs were strike outs. For the two games in San Diego the Pirates have 1 run on 16 hits and 3 walks. They have out hit the Padres both games. Luis Ortiz while he only walked 2 batters seemed like he was working from behind on every batter. It took him 91 pitches to get through 5 innings. The big news is Ben Heller pitched another 2 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 16.50. The ninth loss in a row would not be a memorable game by any stretch of the imagination.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates put runners on base in 8 of the 9 innings. In two innings they were immediately erased by double plays. In the 2nd inning they had 1st and 3rd with two outs, did not score. The 3rd inning, 1st and 2nd with 2 outs, did not score. The top of the 7th, runner on 3rd with one out, did not score. Top of the 8th, runner on 2nd with one out, did not score. How not to get the big hit in 4 easy lessons. It is a sad state of affairs for this team, as they become firmly entrenched in last place, 2 games behind the 4th place Cubs.

Next Game: Late afternoon, Padres in San Diego. Mitch Keller reluctantly takes the mound for the Pirates this afternoon. He is going up against former Pirate Martin Perez and he does not want to lose to him. Double digit losing streak seems inevitable. Mercifully the Pirates have an off day on Thursday.