It felt like the Pirates needed to fly out of Miami with a sweep. Or at the very least, a series win would’ve erased some of the building bad vibes.
Instead, the Pirates lost their seventh straight series out of eight since the All-Star break. The Marlins won the first two games of the series with Pittsburgh salvaging the finale on Thursday afternoon.
Similar problems plagued the Pirates each of the first two games of the series. Paul Skenes was batter on Tuesday but was pulled after five innings and 65 pitches. The offense didn’t score. They didn’t even have a runner reach scoring position.
The bats stayed quite on Tuesday night, and Carmen Mlodzinski and the pitching staff was knocked around.
The Pirates rebounded in a big way in a 13-1 win in Thursday’s finale. But they still lost a game on the Marlins in the standings and have plenty of ground and teams to overcome.
The Pirates entered the series reeling, having dropped to four games under .500 and six games out of a wild card spot. Now, Pittsburgh is five games under .500 and 5.5 games off the wild card pace at the end of Sunday’s game.
Three of the four teams between the Pirates and the third wild card spot — the Marlins, Cardinals and Nationals — all sold at the deadline. Pittsburgh had an opportunity to gain ground on a team more or less waving the white flag on the season. It didn’t happen.
Looming series against the Padres and Cardinals to end the month could be important. But the Pirates will have to survive their next nine games, including a series against the hottest team in baseball (Red Sox) and another against the best team in baseball (Dodgers).
If the Pirates’ season isn’t already over, it’s on life support. And the doctors are ready to pull the plug with time running out.
Rare Frustration From Kelly
Manager Don Kelly describes himself as being positive. His words often reflect that. Kelly rarely shows frustration, but the Pirates’ manager let his disappointment be known after Wednesday’s loss.
“We have to compete. Today was not good enough,” Kelly said on SportsNet Pittsburgh after the loss. “I felt like we felt sorry for ourselves and didn’t compete with the fight that we have all season, and we have to be better. We have to find a way, and we have to dig deep in the clubhouse — players, staff, everybody — and find a way.”
It felt like Kelly more or less hit his breaking point, and it’s hard not to blame him. The defeat marked seven straight series losses for the Pirates, who were just 3-12 in their last 15 games after taking control of the third wild card spot with a win over Arizona on July 27.
It was a message that was also relayed to the team. Message=received. The Pirates played as clean a game as they had all year in their win in Thursday’s finale.
Braxton Ashcraft pitched as good a game you’ll ever see. He needed only 85 pitches to get through his first-career complete game. The offense scored more runs in the final five innings of the game as they had in their last four games combined.
Kelly took a page out of the book of his mentor, Jim Leyland, in expressing his frustration. Managing in today’s game is much different, but maybe Kelly learned a valuable lesson. A little justified tough love can go a long way in providing a spark.
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