MILWAUKEE — The Pirates added more prospects than wins to their collective ledger on this road trip, which included series sweeps in Chicago and Milwaukee.
Pretty much the only positive news after a 5-2 loss against the Brewers at American Family Field, one in which the bullpen once again imploded during a four-run eighth, is that 2021 first-overall pick Henry Davis will be meeting up with them back at PNC Park.
“We’re ready to get back and wash it, clear it and get something new started at home,” said Bryan Reynolds, whose two-run homer in the third looked to be the difference … until it all fell apart once more.
The loss dropped the Pirates’ record to 34-36, the first time they’re multiple games under .500 this season. So much for that 6-3 homestand. The Cubs and Brewers outscored the Pirates, 43-17, on the trip, while 18 of those runs were basically freebies — involving a walk, hit by pitch or someone reaching on catcher’s inference.
“We didn’t throw the ball on the plate,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We didn’t throw the ball on the plate in the eighth inning, and that’s what ended up coming back to bite us. When we have multiple walks in a leverage inning, then runs are going to score and that’s what we saw.”
So about those walks …
The trouble started when Angel Perdomo walked the leadoff man, and Dauri Moreta came in and dished out another free pass. After recording an out, Brewers catcher William Contreras shot a flat Moreta slider the other way to score a run and create a 2-2 tie.
Moreta walked another before right fielder Raimel Tapia pushed the Brewers in front, 3-2, with a sacrifice fly to deep center field. The shape and sharpness of Moreta’s pitches has to be concerning for the Pirates. He’s been used a ton.
The disaster came about quickly, too, as Carmen Mlodzinski and Perdomo initially looked really good, combining for seven straight outs at one point.
The sacrifice fly prompted Shelton to go with David Bednar to try and stop the bleeding, but third baseman Luis Urias supplied his team with some additional breathing room by knocking a full-count fastball through the left side, scoring another couple of runs.
“We have to be better,” Shelton said. “We were not good in this series, and we have to figure out a way to be better.
In the bottom of the third inning, Reynolds clobbered a full-count fastball, located up-and-in, from Brewers starter Freddy Peralta, sending it 415 feet away into the right-field seats for his third in the past 60 games.
It’s a pitch Reynolds has handled a bunch throughout his career, but also one he hasn’t been able to square up over the first third-plus of the season. This was Reynolds’ first home run since May 26.
“It felt good,” Reynolds said. “I got a fastball in the zone that I was able to get to. Felt good to do that again.”
Making heads or tails of Reynolds’ season thus far has been tough. He was tied for fifth in the National league with 20 doubles entering the game, one more than he had all of last season in 145 contests. Furthermore, his .360 average with runners in scoring position also ranked seventh-best in the NL prior to Sunday.
Hitting .278, as Reynolds was at first pitch, was little low for him, and his home run total had petered out following a red-hot stretch in April, when he was named the NL Player of the Week at one point.
With Davis arriving Monday to theoretically give the offense a boost, the Pirates would certainly welcome a Reynolds hot streak to go with it.
But if this series has shown us anything, the Pirates right now need more than one player contributing. They need to figure out the bullpen situation, which was not good for much of this trip, and their pitching staff as a whole must throw more strikes.
On the offensive side, Davis should help some. But there’s improvement to be found pretty much across the board when it comes to the power game.
“We have to execute,” Shelton said. “We did not execute offensively in this series."
AT THE PLATE
Aside from Reynolds, Carlos Santana continued his recent hot stretch by doubling in the second inning. It actually represented the 350th double of Santana’s career, as he became the 21st player from the Dominican Republic to reach that mark.
In his last five games, Santana is batting .368 with a double, two home runs, six RBIs, a walk and three runs scored. But Jason Delay struck out with the bases loaded in the second, Connor Joe had a couple of brutal at-bats, and the Pirates once again failed to get any sort of sustained push.
“With the exception of maybe Santana and Reynolds, we have not had really good, consistent at-bats,” Shelton said. “We got a bunch of young guys, and we need to figure it out.”
ON THE MOUND
The start for Ortiz was fine — nothing spectacular, nothing terrible. His stuff was plenty sharp early, as he struck out five over the first three innings, including a couple on nasty sliders. But the right-hander also walked three in a two-inning span and committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt.
Left fielder Christian Yelich cracked a one-out double in the fifth inning, and designated hitter Jesse Winker scored him when he got a 3-1 four-seamer low in the zone from Ortiz and lined it the opposite way into left for a single.
“Focus and execute my pitches,” Ortiz said, with major league coach Stephen Morales translating. “That was the key out of getting out of situations.”
QUOTABLE
"It’s not a lack of patience. If you look at what we’re doing in June, we’re walking. We’re not slugging. We’re not driving the ball in the gap and not getting the big hits when we have to.” — Shelton
UP NEXT
Osvaldo Bido will get another start Monday back at PNC Park. He struck out six while allowing one run in four innings in his MLB debut.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: June 18, 2023, 8:45 p.m.
Updated: June 19, 2023, 3:15 p.m.
