Saturday, March 15, 2025, 2:42AM |  66°
MENU
Advertisement
Phillies catcher Andrew Knapp tags out Pirates third baseman Colin Moran at home plate in the first inning Friday, July 6, 2018, at PNC Park.
3
MORE

Pirates pitching melts down during 17-5 thrashing at the hands of the Phillies

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Pirates pitching melts down during 17-5 thrashing at the hands of the Phillies

For a synopsis of Friday night’s game — and given its length, the synopsis is what you want — look no further than Aaron Altherr, the Philadelphia Phillies outfielder. Altherr led off the seventh inning and walked. Seven runs later, with two Pirates relievers unable to record three outs, Altherr received another plate appearance.

He walked again.

Trevor Williams did not fool the Phillies. With the exception of Steven Brault, neither did any of the relievers who followed him. The Phillies walked and smashed their way to a 17-5 destruction of the Pirates at PNC Park, the Pirates’ fourth consecutive loss and second game during that span in which they allowed 17 runs. A crowd of 24,846 witnessed the spectacle, which took 4 hours, 30 minutes and registered as the longest nine-inning game in Pirates history. It tied the National League record.

Advertisement

“We’re tired of losing,” Williams said. “I’m tired of getting my (butt) kicked every five days. I’m searching. It’s peaks and valleys, and right now, collectively, we’re in a valley. It’s going to turn around. We’re going to come to the field tomorrow expecting to win and looking to put up some runs.”

Pirates Logo skybox
Bill Brink
Competitive balance pick Gunnar Hoglund does not sign with Pirates, will attend Mississippi

At 40-47, the Pirates are 11/2 games ahead of the last-place Cincinnati Reds. Manager Clint Hurdle shuffled the lineup before the game in an effort to generate some offense, but no amount of offense could overcome a pitching staff that could not get outs. Asked if he handled two blowout losses in a four-game span any differently — personally or with his players — Hurdle said, “A lot of times I talk to the team and you never hear about it. Those are the best meetings you can have.”

The Pirates issued 10 walks and allowed 18 hits. They threw 236 pitches, 185 out of the bullpen. Richard Rodriguez walked three batters in two-thirds of an inning. Dovydas Neverauskas allowed only one walk, but he gave up three hits and four runs while recording two outs. Josh Smoker walked two and gave up three runs, all on Andrew Knapp’s seventh-inning home run. Tyler Glasnow allowed three runs in two innings.

“Tonight I just didn’t execute at all,” Smoker said. “It was embarrassing, honestly. I needed to try and take some innings off of the team tonight, and when you throw however many pitches I threw in two-thirds of an inning, it doesn’t help the bullpen out at all.”

Advertisement

Williams exited Friday’s game with one out in the third inning. He had allowed five runs and five hits by that point. He also walked two batters and hit a third. What he hadn’t done was strike anyone out, and of his 51 pitches, only two generated swinging strikes.

After shutting out the Chicago White Sox for seven innings on May 15, Williams had a 2.72 ERA. He had recorded an out in the sixth inning in eight of his nine starts. In nine starts since then, he has completed five or fewer innings in six of them and has a 7.02 ERA.

“For me personally it’s getting a little embarrassing,” Williams said. “I need to have ownership and be better about it.”

In the past 30 days entering Friday’s game, only the Washington Nationals’ rotation had a higher ERA than the Pirates’ 5.24 mark among National League teams, and only the Nationals starters pitched fewer innings than the Pirates’ 1321/3.

Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage talks with general manager Neal Huntington before the team takes on the Cardinals in April.
Joe Starkey
Joe Starkey: Why is Neal Huntington so afraid to utter the word 'rebuild'?

The free baserunners Williams allowed penalized him. He issued a leadoff walk to Carlos Santana in the second. After a Scott Kingery single, Maikel Franco doubled off the center-field wall to drive home two runs.

In the bottom of the inning, Nick Pivetta hit Josh Harrison, reopening a wound for Harrison and the team that has festered for more than a season. Williams hit the leadoff batter the following inning with the first pitch he threw.

Then he walked Rhys Hoskins. Then Odubel Herrera homered over the Clemente Wall.

The Pirates had to overcome more than the ineffectiveness of their pitching. Harrison bobbled a routine grounder on the first ball put in play, putting the leadoff man aboard in the first. Josh Bell compensated with a diving stop that began an inning-ending double play.

With runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom half, third-base coach Joey Cora sent Colin Moran, who is not fleet of foot, on Corey Dickerson’s single to right field. Nick Williams threw Moran out at the plate by enough that Moran’s slide didn’t even reach the dish. Dickerson tripled in the fifth, giving the Pirates the tying run at third base with fewer than two outs. With the contact play on, Harrison grounded to third and Dickerson was out at the plate. The Pirates did not score.

“Baseball don’t care about your feelings,” Harrison said. “It does not. You’ve got to keep pushing. You’ve got to show up every day.”

Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.

First Published: July 7, 2018, 3:51 a.m.

RELATED
Pirates GM Neal Huntington greets catcher Elias Diaz during the team's first full-squad workout of the spring Feb. 19 in Bradenton, Fla.
Paul Zeise
Paul Zeise: Neal Huntington is holding on to a pipe dream
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Firefighters and officers respond to a collapsed porch roof on Friday, March 14, 2025, in Oakland. Earlier, during a college party, the roof caved in with over a dozen people on and below the structure. Multiple injuries were reported, and the porch was condemned.
1
local
WATCH: Several injured after roof collapsed on Oakland building
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson (3) and Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston (5) embrace after an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
2
sports
Jason Mackey: Why are the Steelers waiting so long for Aaron Rodgers? There's another option
The Social Security Administration Building at 6117 Penn Circle North in East Liberty Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019 in Pittsburgh.
3
news
Social Security Administration to begin withholding full benefits from overpaid recipients
Jeff Capel, head coach of Pitt looks on against Syracuse at the NCAA men’s basketball game on Tuesday Feb. 18, 2025 at Petersen Event Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
4
sports
Pitt men's basketball will decline invitations to any postseason tournaments
The National Energy Technology Laboratory in the South Hills. The research lab's future has been clouded with uncertainty after about 55 probationary employees were summarily fired via a midnight e-mail on Valentines Day.
5
business
The national lab in Pittsburgh's backyard is a place for innovation — and worry
Phillies catcher Andrew Knapp tags out Pirates third baseman Colin Moran at home plate in the first inning Friday, July 6, 2018, at PNC Park.  (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)
Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams pitches against the Phillies in the first inning Friday, July 6, 2018, at PNC Park.  (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)
Pirates right fielder Gregory Polancio scores against the Phillies in the first inning Friday, July 6, 2018 at PNC Park.  (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST sports
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story