The Pirates have been blown out a lot this season. That trend continued Wednesday as they allowed the Braves to score 14 runs, finishing off a sweep to close out their nine-game homestand at PNC Park.
"A day like this, I mean, 14-0, that's tough to come back from," Mitch Keller said. "It sucks. A few guys might have had tough days. A few guys might have had good days. It's tough all around."
What's really interesting about this quote is the Pirates didn't actually lose 14-0. The final score of the game was 14-2, thanks to a two-run mini rally in the ninth inning, highlighted by a solo home run by Kevin Newman that ended the shutout.
It's probably just an honest mistake by Keller. It happens. There are 162 games in a season, a lot of runs are scored and Keller's day was over before the fourth inning came to an end.
But it's rather telling that he said, "14-0," when recounting the blowout loss. Because it felt and looked that bad.
The two runs scored in the ninth inning salvaged the Pirates some historical embarrassment. Prior to a two-out double by Tyler Heineman in the eighth inning -- which was only the third Pirates hit in the game -- Pittsburgh was four outs away from losing their fifth game by 14 or more runs. No other Pirates team has lost more than two games by that much. The only other two teams in Major League Baseball history to lose five games by 14 or more runs are the 1936 Athletics (six) and 1939 Athletics (five).
And, never before had the Pirates allowed 14 or more runs, been shut out and recorded two or fewer hits. Heineman's double and the two runs scored in the ninth inning saved the Pirates from arguably their most embarrassing loss in club history.
All that said, it was still another horrific day at the office. When all was said and done, the Pirates were beaten by 12 runs, scoring only two on six hits with three errors. And it was the fifth time the Pirates lost by at least 12 runs this season. This follows a season where they lost by at least 12 runs on six different occasions in 2021. Thus, the Pirates have now joined the 1929-1930 Phillies, 1935-37 Browns, 1938-1941 Athletics and 1950-1951 Browns as the only clubs in MLB history to accomplish this feat in consecutive seasons.
It doesn't stop there. The Pirates have now allowed 14 or more runs six times this season, the most in MLB. They've also now scored two or fewer runs 53 times this season, which is the most in the National League and tied with the Tigers and Athletics for the most in MLB.
Not even a week ago, Ben Cherington addressed the media for more than 30 minutes and discussed at length about the progress this team has made this season. Here's the same quote I used in a story from last Friday:
"Now, we have to get better in a lot of ways, and we will. I can only speak to the now third year that I’ve been here, the first of which, obviously, was unusual in a lot of ways. We believe we made a lot of progress during that time to get us closer to a point where we have to be to have a chance to win. Not just win, but sustain that. Our aim is not to win some more games to feel a little bit better about it, to get to a little bit better record to feel a little bit better about it. We want to win on a level where it’s going to help us get into October and deep in October. No shortcuts to that, but we believe we’re making progress. We need to make more."
In that story and in the one that followed, I stressed how hard it was to pinpoint progress when the Pirates have been embarrassing more often than they've been encouraging. I also said that tangible results needed to begin showing up sooner rather than later. Nobody expected Cherington to turn this around with the snap of a finger. Rebuilds take time.
However, the end of Year 3 is closing in quickly. Aiming to not embarrass yourself should not be the goal here. Tangible progress has to become the expectation. Otherwise, any talk of eventually contending will soon fall upon deaf ears.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• If you think the Pirates are embarrassed by this loss, you might want to think again. When Derek Shelton was asked about losing an alarming number of blowout games as opposed to losing close games, this is what he had to say:
"I don't think any one of those weighs any more than any other loss. When games get out of hand like that you flush them. Close games are challenging, but I don't look at it like that."
This is a time where I'm not going to add anything else. We've laid out enough facts about how bad of a loss this was. I think that answer speaks for itself.
• The groans from the fan base continued when the Pirates posted their lineup prior to the game with Josh VanMeter batting eighth and playing first base. He rewarded those groans with perhaps his worst performance in a Pirates uniform.
Despite giving up a two-run home run to William Contreras in the second inning, Keller's start had been going rather well. What was most encouraging was having his velocity back in the mid-90s, quelling any concerns about structural damage in his arm.
Keller had gone through 3 2/3 innings with the two-run homer as his only blemish. With two on and two out, Keller got the ground ball he needed to get out of the inning unscathed and keep the deficit to 2-0. Instead, VanMeter did this:
What makes it even worse is Robbie Grossman was Atlanta's No. 9 hitter. This not only made it a three-run deficit and allowed the inning to continue, but turned over the Braves' lineup.
"That's a ball that we've just got to catch. If that's the case, we're out of the inning, it's 2-0, and we go from there," Shelton said. "After that, the inning didn't go as we wanted it to."
Keller then walked Ronald Acuña Jr. to load the bases, then Dansby Swanson cleared the bases with an RBI double to give the Braves a 6-0 lead. Then, he moved up to third on VanMeter's second error in the span of three batters:
Austin Riley then followed with a bloop RBI single to give Atlanta a 7-0 lead, which ended Keller's day. He left the game with seven runs allowed, but five of them were unearned. To put that in perspective of this embarrassing game, this is the fifth time the Pirates have allowed at least five unearned runs, 14 runs, made three errors and scored two or fewer runs since the earned run became an official statistic in 1912.
VanMeter also finished the game 0 for 4 with a strikeout. He earned some scattered booing during his third at-bat, then one fan chanted "DFA" during his final trip to the plate.
• Despite the outcome, Keller was pleased with the way he pitched Wednesday. The Pirates gave him a couple extra days of rest after dealing with an alarming dip in velocity exactly one week prior. Overall fatigue was the contributing factor to what now appears to be a blip on the radar.
"I felt really good," Keller said. "I just needed some recovery. Having those extra days of rest were big for me. I felt back to normal. Everything felt like it was coming out really good. The curveball and slider felt really crisp too. I was very pleased about that."
• Manny Bañuelos, Duane Underwood Jr. and Eric Stout kept it a 7-0 deficit with 3 1/3 scoreless innings, but Atlanta made this one a laugher in the eighth.
Colin Holderman walked Michael Harris II to lead off the inning, then three straight singles to give Atlanta an 8-0 lead and load the bases. Holderman then hit Riley with a pitch to drive in another run and keep the bases loaded.
Shelton went to Cam Vieaux for a matchup with Matt Olson, and that's when this one got way out of hand:
Vieaux ended up finishing the inning with only another run scoring, but the game was already over by that point.
• It turns out Holderman was removed from the game due to shoulder discomfort.
"The velo initially wasn't where we wanted it to be, and then we made a visit because he got into a little bit of trouble," Shelton explained. "Oscar [Marin] went out and asked him where he was at, and he said, 'Hey, I'm okay.' He threw the next one at 98, which I was like okay now he's feeling alright.
"The next pitch it looked like as he got ready to throw it, something wasn't right, and it came out and obviously hit Riley. At that point, we had to check. We were going to take him out anyway because of Olson coming up, but yeah, we've got to get him looked at."
Holderman is currently under evaluation and was initially considered day to day.
• Of the few positive takeaways from this one, in addition to the hardest throw ever made by an infielder in the Statcast era, Oneil Cruz now has the record for the hardest hit as well:
"At the moment, I didn’t even think I hit the ball that hard," Cruz said through interpreter Mike Gonzalez. "When I came into the dugout, some of my teammates shared with me that I hit it 122 (mph). I smiled but deep down inside I was like, 'Wow, I really hit that ball hard.' Now, finding out that I broke a record, it means a lot to me. That’s something positive to take away from today’s game."
122.4 mph. That's what a hitter like Cruz should be doing to sliders hanging in the middle of the plate. Once he learns how to hit at the major-league level, balls like that will end up in the Allegheny.
• In some positive news, both David Bednar (back) and Dillon Peters (elbow) are progressing in their return to the mound. Peters is a little ahead of Bednar, and may start throwing live batting practice early next week. Pirates' director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk optimistically said, "The anticipation is they return before the end of the season."
• A huge shoutout to our Alex Stumpf for digging up all of the eye-popping stats throughout this story.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 15-day injured list: RHP David Bednar (low back), LHP Dillon Peters (left elbow inflammation)
• 60-day injured list: RHP Yerry De Los Santos (lat), OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), RHP Blake Cederlind (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Oneil Cruz, SS
2. Kevin Newman, 2B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Ben Gamel, RF
5. Ke'Bryan Hayes, DH
6. Rodolfo Castro, 3B
7. Tucupita Marcano, LF
8. Josh VanMeter, 1B
9. Tyler Heineman, C
And for Brian Snitker's Braves:
1. Ronald Acuña Jr., RF
2. Dansby Swanson, SS
3. Austin Riley, 3B
4. Matt Olsen, 1B
5. William Contreras, C
6. Eddie Rosario, DH
7. Vaughn Grissom, 2B
8. Michael Harris II, CF
9. Robbie Grossman, LF
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates are off Thursday, then head out to Philadelphia for a three-game series that starts Friday. Bryse Wilson (2-7, 5.74) is set to face off against Zack Wheeler (11-7, 3.07). Alex will have you covered from Citizens Bank Park.
THE CONTENT
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