8/12/24 By Drew Cagle – @cagles_bagels on X
Another series for the Buccos, another string of games that has you scratching your head. How has this season gone wrong? Is there still time to course-correct for a wild card? How does this team snap out of this rough patch? Those are just some pertinent questions after a sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend.
Bullpen bounces back, but continues to struggle to close
Unfortunately for the Pirates, when the bullpen began to improve, the starting pitching slumped. On Friday, Domingo German allowed a two-run homer to Kike Hernandez, then twirled three scoreless innings in his Pirates debut. Ben Heller added two scoreless on Saturday, and five different relievers did not allow a run on Sunday, covering four more innings.
The rough part? The Pirates were trailing in all three games at the time that their starting pitcher left the game. On Sunday, things looked to be different after taking an extra-inning lead, but David Bednar’s second loss in four days came after allowing a pair of runs in his second inning of work.
Overall, the series was an improvement from the bullpen against a pennant contender like Los Angeles. But when paired with struggles from the rotation and Bednar, it proved to be a moot point.
Paul Skenes is beginning to look human
Teoscar Hernandez spoiled Skenes’ homecoming to his home state on Saturday night, going 3-for-3 with a double, single, and home run. Add in 3 RBIs by Gavin Lux, and the Dodgers handed the rookie his second loss as a major leaguer.
Is this outing a cause for concern? To me, no. The flaming hot start from Skenes to start his career was bound to end one way or another. For his worst start of the season thus far to come against a lineup headlined by Shohei Ohtani, Hernandez, and Freddie Freeman is understandable. As for his matchups with Ohtani and Freeman, he retired them all six times he faced them, including two strikeouts in the hyped-up matchup against Ohtani.
For the first time in over a month, Skenes’ ERA now sits over 2.00, at a still-elite 2.25 mark.
The home run ball can be an equalizer
Of the 11 runs the Pirates scored in the series, 9 of them came via the home run. Joey Bart had a three-run blast and continued to show why he’s a valuable bat in this lineup, while Oneil Cruz, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Andrew McCutchen (twice) all went deep. Cutch’s 15th and 16th homers of the season are a sign that although he’ll never be at his 2013-era peak as a hitter again, he’s still capable of hitting for power.
The Pirates’ offensive struggles have been well documented over the course of the season. They’re currently 25th in MLB in home runs hit as a team, even after the five-homer weekend. If they’re able to continue to hit the long ball, they won’t have to rely nearly as much on stringing together hit after hit to score runs.
The team needs more out of Bryan De La Cruz
Simply put, De La Cruz has not lived up to his billing thus far in a Pirates uniform. He’s just 4-for-34 (.118) in 8 games since arriving in Pittsburgh. While I’m not counting him out of being part of the answer to this offense, this cold spell has been ill-timed. After going 0-for-7 with a walk on Friday and Saturday, the outfielder got a day off on Sunday. Let’s hope that it unlocks something more as the Pirates head to Petco Park.
Steel City Pirates 