For six innings, the Pirates once again did just about everything right.
Paul Skenes, like Jared Jones on Wednesday, spun another quality start Thursday afternoon at PNC Park. One-time top Giants prospect Joey Bart hit a no-doubt grand slam, just as Bryan Reynolds did a night prior, in the fourth inning against his former team.
"You dream for swings and situations like that,” Bart said.
And similarly, the Pirates built themselves a seemingly comfortable lead, going into the seventh inning with a four-run cushion.
Then, the Pirates’ beleaguered bullpen took over. So, too, did the Giants.
Three Pirates relievers combined to give up six earned runs in the final three innings of a 7-6 loss. Since the beginning of May, the Pirates bullpen has collectively pitched to a 5.66 ERA, third worst in MLB during that stretch.
“It's a concern. Our bullpen's gotta be better,” manager Derek Shelton said. “ ... We have to be better. Our bullpen has to be better. We have to win games like that.”
While left-hander Aroldis Chapman’s woes were particularly egregious on Wednesday, when he threw 12 straight balls en route to blowing that game, it was Hunter Stratton’s struggles taking center stage on Thursday. He gave up five straight hits, including a three-run home run by Matt Chapman, before the southpaw mercifully relieved him.
Shelton said too many fastballs from Stratton caught the middle of the plate.
“That's the commonality with our bullpen right now,” Shelton said. “Too many fastballs in the middle of the plate.”
Aroldis Chapman, the Pirates’ highest-paid player this season with a one-year, $10.5 million contract, threw a wild pitch with his first offering. Bart mishandled another of Chapman’s pitches, a passed ball that in conjunction with the wild pitch allowed the Giants’ go-ahead run to advance from first to third.
It briefly appeared Chapman might miraculously tightrope out of the jam, but San Francisco’s Brett Wisely instead stroked an RBI single on an 0-2 fastball that was right down the middle.
All the labor from the Pirates’ suddenly resurgent offense, including a solo home run by Reynolds in the seventh, was wasted by the time the eighth inning concluded.
“Bryan hit the homer to make it a four-run game, and [we had] a bullpen that's pretty depleted anyway,” Shelton said. “So it gives us a little bit of cushion, and then we can't hold the lead. Our bullpen's gotta be better.”
Instead of taking advantage of quality starts from Skenes and Jones on consecutive days, the Pirates dropped both contests to lose quite a winnable series against the Giants. The easily avoidable defeats left Shelton short with his words.
“Frustrating. Very frustrating,” Shelton said of the two losses. “We have to finish games like that.”
On the mound
Skenes wasn’t quite as dynamic as he was last Friday in Chicago when tossing six no-hit innings against the Cubs and striking out the first seven batters he faced. Still, MLB’s top pitching prospect effectively pitched his way out of trouble all afternoon despite giving up six singles and yielded only one earned run on a fielder’s choice in the fourth.
Skenes said he didn’t have his best stuff, lamenting his breaking ball execution. In total, only 15 of Skenes’ 93 pitches were sliders, instead relying primarily on his four-seam fastball and splinker, a hybrid between a sinker and splitter.
Still, Skenes was pleased to provide six strong frames, even if he wished he could have gone deeper in the game.
“Had a couple long innings, but there’s going to be those games,” Skenes said. “I thought I made do and put the team in the best position to win.”
There were no noticeable challenges with Skenes throwing to Bart for the first time in an MLB game, as well. Once Skenes departed, however, the Giants outscored the Pirates, 6-1, in the game’s final three innings.
At the plate
Long before Bart’s grand slam, Andrew McCutchen gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead with a solo shot, his seventh of the season. McCutchen has now hit three leadoff home runs this season and 25 in his career, which is tied for eighth most among active MLB players.
McCutchen also singled in the fifth and came within a few feet of making it a two-homer day in the third when flying out to deep center. All six of the Pirates’ runs came courtesy of the long ball, of which the team has hit 25 in May.
“We're starting to get better at-bats,” Shelton said. “We had some opportunities we didn't capitalize on, but we kept going.”
Among those missed chances were stranding Nick Gonzales at third base after he led off the second with a double. Rowdy Tellez, who struck out twice on the afternoon, went down looking on a pitch right down Broadway when Gonzales was at third with one away.
Tellez, who got his first start of the series at first base, is now hitting just .175 with a .467 OPS.
“He's gotta have better at-bats,” Shelton said of Tellez.
They said it
"I've never heard of it, never seen it,” Bart said of Skenes’ splinker. “I didn't even know what it was when he threw it at me, to be honest with you. But it's good. It's hard and it's off the barrel.”
Up next
Friday: Braves at Pirates, 6:40 p.m., PNC Park
TV, radio: SportsNet Pittsburgh, KDKA-FM (93.7).
Probable pitchers: LHP Bailey Falter (2-2, 3.53) for Pirates. ... TBA for Braves.
Key matchup: The Braves’ teamwide ERA of 3.33 is seventh best in MLB. The Pirates, meanwhile, are 23rd in the league in runs scored.
Hidden stat: Edward Olivares has four home runs against left-handed pitchers, tied for third most in the National League.
Saturday: RHP Mitch Keller (5-3, 3.84) for Pirates; RHP Reynaldo Lopez (2-1, 1.54) for Braves
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and @AndrewDestin1 on X
First Published: May 23, 2024, 7:31 p.m.
Updated: May 24, 2024, 12:48 a.m.