The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t get the boost they needed from their latest matchup with Arizona, and now the margin for error in the National League Wild Card chase looks even thinner.
Pittsburgh split the first two games with the Diamondbacks at PNC Park, but dropping two of three from July 27-29 left the club in a tougher spot. The low point came in the middle game on July 28, when the Pirates erased a six-run deficit only to fall 8-7 in extra innings.
That series came during a rough stretch for Pittsburgh since the All-Star break. The Pirates are 5-7 overall in that span and 3-6 across their last three series, with all of those matchups coming against teams still in the playoff hunt.
The standings have tightened around them. After opening the series with a 3-2 extra-inning win on July 27 and owning the tiebreaker over Arizona, the Pirates now sit two games back in the NL Wild Card race. Seven teams are packed within 2.5 games of one another, and Pittsburgh can’t afford to drift much farther behind.
Arizona’s rise is part of the squeeze. The Diamondbacks are now tied with Philadelphia at 57-52 and could keep climbing if they keep winning. The Phillies, meanwhile, have gone 3-9 since the All-Star break and have gone from holding a firm grip on the second NL Wild Card spot to potentially missing out altogether.
Elsewhere in the race, the Miami Marlins snapped a franchise-record 12-game losing streak by sweeping the Phillies at loanDepot Park, getting back above .500 and pulling within two games of that final spot. The San Diego Padres have also pushed forward with five straight wins, including a sweep of the Marlins on the road and two home wins over the Colorado Rockies, leaving them just 1.5 games back and in that fourth spot.
The Washington Nationals are still in the mix as well, even after losing two of three to the Toronto Blue Jays at home. They’re 7-5 since the All-Star break, but they’ll face a tougher test this weekend against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park.
The St. Louis Cardinals are another team trying to avoid slipping too far. They’re 4-9 since the break and dropped below .500 before earning a walk-off win over the Chicago Cubs, who still sit 4.5 games ahead.
Pittsburgh’s schedule doesn’t exactly offer much breathing room. The Pirates head into an eight-game road trip with two four-game series, starting with the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park from July 30-Aug. 2, followed by the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field from Aug. 3-6.
There are plenty of other heavyweight matchups still ahead. The Pirates still have the Cardinals at home and on the road, the Cubs at home, the Marlins on the road, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Padres on a road trip, plus road games against the Chicago White Sox and a home series with the Boston Red Sox.
Even so, there are chances to gain ground. The Reds series is Pittsburgh’s first against a team under .500 since they faced Cincinnati at PNC Park from June 26-28. The Pirates could also pick up wins against the Detroit Tigers at home and on the road, along with home series against the New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals.
With the trade deadline arriving on Aug. 3, the Pirates have a clear incentive to put together a strong showing against Cincinnati and give themselves the best possible position heading into that stretch.
In Other News...
Pirates Just Made A Bullpen Decision Fans Saw Coming
Dennis Santanas time in Pittsburgh took another turn this week after the Pirates moved on from the right-hander, a decision that fit the way his season had gone. He had been part of the bullpen mix, but his recent work never matched the kind of stability the club needed, even though he had shown better form in the not-too-distant past and had at least given the Pirates reason to believe there was something to work with.
Now the question is less about what went wrong in Pittsburgh and more about where Santana lands next. His contract situation makes him a relatively low-cost flier for a team in need of bullpen help, and the Pirates are still on the hook for part of the money, which softens the blow as they keep sorting through relief options. For a pitcher who has already shown he can be useful in the right stretch, there should be no shortage of clubs taking a look. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates May Have Pulled Off Their Rarest Kind Of Trade Win
When the Pirates sent KeBryan Hayes to Cincinnati on July 30, the deal looked like a straightforward reset: Pittsburgh got reliever Taylor Rogers, infield prospect Sammy Stafura and cash considerations, while moving on from a former cornerstone who had lost his offensive footing. It did not take long for the transaction to start looking better for the Pirates on multiple fronts, because Hayes has struggled badly at the plate in Cincinnati and Stafura has been turning heads in High-A Greensboro with the kind of production that can change a prospects status quickly.
Pittsburgh also did not sit on the return it got from the Reds. Rogers was flipped to the Cubs for outfield prospect Ivan Brethowr, adding another young piece to the organizations pipeline and giving the Pirates a second crack at value from the same trade. For a club that has spent years trying to do more with less, this is the kind of rare trade outcome that can matter long after the deadline passes, even if the final accounting still has a few important chapters left to be written. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Just Sent A Troubling Message About Ben Cherington's Deadline Plans
Ahead of an important series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Pirates made a set of roster tweaks that looked more like a shuffle from within than a push from outside. Jhostynxon Garcia, Hunter Barco and Noah Murdock were recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis, while Tyler Callihan, Isaac Mattson and Brandon Eisert were sent back down, giving Pittsburgh a fresh mix of position-player help and bullpen arms without reaching beyond the organization.
Garcia gives the Pirates another right-handed bat in place of Callihan, and the pitching side of the move suggests the club wanted to reset a relief group that has been carrying a heavy load. Barco and Murdock arrive to help cover innings, with Murdock standing out as the more interesting name after a strong minor-league run, but the broader picture is still the one that matters most to Pittsburgh fans: these are internal fixes, and they leave the question of how aggressive Ben Cherington will be when the trade deadline arrives hanging in the air. [Read more 🡒]