NEW YORK — Saying the Pirates are in a funk since the All-Star break wouldn’t come close to describing the stench of their 2-13 record since the All-Star Game.
Saturday night, wasted opportunities littered the landscape in a 3-0 loss against the New York Mets at Citi Field as the Pirates continued their slide after being within striking distance of the National League Central Division lead at the break.
The loss extended the Pirates losing streak to seven games.
Frustration set it in early, too.
The Pirates went down 1-2-3 in the first inning with strikeouts to Kevin Newman and Starling Marte.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle didn’t agree with either called strike and argued with home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.
“I felt that two of our first three hitters got clipped on called third strikes. I wanted to stop a trend. That was basically it,” Hurdle said.
“I thought we had both guys that got punched out on strikes that weren’t strikes. Two out of three to start the game.”
Then, the wasted opportunities began to kick in.
Todd Frazier misplayed a ground ball by Josh Bell at third base with none out in the second, but, five pitches later, Bryan Reynolds grounded into a double play. Mets starter Steven Matz then got Jose Osuna on a fly ball to Michael Conforto in center to end the inning.
“Double plays have hurt us. They’ve been hurting us for about a week now,” Hurdle said. “Those are things that we were staying out of before. Those are balls that we were backing up with a base hit and doing some damage. It hasn’t worked that way. I think Reynolds hit into double plays the past two nights.”
“He’s a guy that was doing nothing but throwing out base hits. He still is making hard contact and he got a hit later.”
Matz would retire the next five hitters before Melky Cabrera got the first hit of the game. Cabrera belted a one-out double that bounced over the left-center field wall in the fourth.
Once again, the Pirates squandered an opportunity. This time, Starling Marte failed to drive in Cabrera with a ground ball to third, and Bell struck out to end the inning.
Another blown chance to score runs came in the sixth with the score tied at zero.
Jacob Stallings lined a double to center to lead off the inning. Starting pitcher Trevor Williams struck out trying to bunt Stallings over for the first out. Newman followed with a single to left.
Stallings wasn’t sure the ball would land in front of the left fielder, hesitated briefly, and stopped at third rather than try to score. It’s hard to know if slow-running Stallings could’ve scored on a ball that shallow, but the hesitation eliminated all hope.
Then, things got worse as Cabrera hit into a double play to end the threat.
“We missed a critical opportunity in the sixth,” Hurdle said.
“We failed to get a bunt down and our failure to drive a runner in with less than two outs really because you don’t know the landscape of the game after that.”
Williams walked Conforto with one out in the first before the Pirates starter retired the next 14 batters before giving up his first hit of the game on a fifth-inning double by J.D. Davis.
Williams carried a no-hitter through 5⅓ innings and, of course, it, too, was wasted.
“We got the outing we needed tonight and we didn’t touch the plate,” Hurdle said.
Conforto hit a home run off Williams in the sixth. Davis blasted a two-run homer in the seventh.
Davis’ home run would’ve been a solo blast if not for a misplay by Jung Ho Kang on popup by Todd Frazier. Kang dropped the ball, and Frazier got a gift hit.
If there had been two outs and the bases empty as it should’ve been, perhaps Williams would have pitched differently to Davis.
Instead, Williams ended his night giving up three runs on four hits and two walks. He also had seven strikeouts. It was a good game for Williams, but Matz was better.
“Trevor pitched extremely well” said Hurdle. “It was his best start of the year. He was pitch efficient.
“Matz was better. His routine stayed the same. All of his pitches worked and kept our hitters off balance all night,”
Matz confounded Pirates hitters on his way to a complete-game shutout. He allowed five hits with no walks and struck out seven.
As the nosedive continued, the Pirates’ record dipped to 46-58.
Nubyjas Wilborn: nwilborn@post-gazette.com and Twitter @nwilborn19.
First Published: July 28, 2019, 2:05 a.m.
Updated: July 28, 2019, 2:09 a.m.