A Really Bad Stretch for the Pirates

Back on April 26, I wrote THIS ARTICLE about the then 16-7 Pittsburgh Pirates that highlighted the fact that they were about to enter a critical eighteen game stretch wherein twelve of those games would be against upper echelon, by record at least, MLB teams: three each against the Dodgers, Rays, Blue Jays, and Orioles.  

Here is what followed:

• Won 2 of three from Los Angeles.  Good.
• Won the first two games of a three game series with the Nationals.  The score of that second game was 16-1, and it pushed the Pirates' record to 20-9, second only the the Rays in all of MLB.
• They lost the third game of that series to the Nats and then the slide began.
• 0-3 against the Rays.
• 0-3 against the Blue Jays.
• 1-2 against the Rockies.
• 1-2 against the Orioles

Not only did they go 2-11 over the course of this streak, but it wasn't until the eleventh game after that 16-1 win over the Nats that the Pirates scored their 17th run of that streak.  Eleven games to score more runs than they did in that blowout of Washington.

In the only games that they won, 2-0 over the Rockies and 2-0 over the Orioles, were behind a complete game shutout and seven shutout innings pitched by Mitch Keller.  In the entire month of May, Keller has been the only, and I mean THE ONLY bright spot on the team.  The team has been exposed to be very weak offensively, and while they are still stealing bases at a high clip, they are still prone to jaw dropping gaffes on the base paths.  In one of the games, the Bucs had three runners thrown out at third base.  Not something you see every day in the big leagues.

Earlier this week, the Pirates split a two game series with Detroit and the hitters showed some signs of coming back to life with an 8-0 win on Wednesday.  They are now 23-20 and one game out of first place in the NL Central, and would you have signed on for that at the beginning of the season?  Sure you would have, but the Jekyll and Hyde performances of the April Pirates vs. the May Pirates certainly gives one cause for concern. 

Tonight begins a six game home stand against the Diamondbacks and Rangers.  Let's see where they stand relative to .500 at the conclusion of those six games.

And how long before we start seeing some of these prized prospects like Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez, Nick Gonzales, and Quinn Priester in Pittsburgh instead of retreads like Mike Mathias and Chris Owings, to name two?