The Pittsburgh Pirates walked into their weekend series with the New York Mets at PNC Park carrying a real chance to steady their season. Instead, they left with another missed opportunity and a reminder that the margin for error is gone.
Pittsburgh took one game of the three, rolling to a 9-0 win on Aug. 8, but that was not enough to cover up the damage done in the other two. The Pirates opened the set with a 6-4 loss on Aug. 7 and then got buried 11-1 in the finale on Aug.
- Against a New York club that came in at 50-66, the Pirates had a chance to make a statement and simply didn’t deliver.
The biggest concern remains the rotation, and this series did nothing to calm it down. Right-handers Camren Mlodzinski and Jared Jones both needed strong outings and both fell short.
Mlodzinski was tagged for five runs in three innings in the opener, including four runs and a three-run homer in the third. There was some context there, since he had to deal with a 36-minute rain delay that seemed to throw him off before the inning unraveled. Even so, it wasn’t the kind of outing that helped his case as he tries to establish himself as a starter and push for the spot opened by the injured Mitch Keller.
Jones’ start in the finale was even rougher. He surrendered a two-run homer, allowed five runs before his line ballooned to eight, and saw the Mets load the bases in the fourth inning before all three runners came around to score. Those eight runs were the most he has allowed in a Pirates uniform, and they pushed his season ERA to 5.03.
That came on the heels of a strong July, when Jones posted a 2.00 ERA across five starts. But August has been a different story.
He now owns a 14.14 ERA over two starts this month, including three earned runs over four innings against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on Aug. 4.
Between Mlodzinski and Jones, the Pirates had to burn 12 innings from the bullpen, and the performances only deepened the concern about what either pitcher can give them going forward.
The other familiar issue surfaced again too: Pittsburgh’s struggles against left-handed pitching. That trend was front and center in this series, with New York sending out two lefty starters who handled the Pirates with ease.
Rookie Zac Thornton opened the series by allowing four hits and two walks over five scoreless innings. Sean Manaea followed in the finale and was even sharper, giving up only a solo homer to Pirates center fielder Jake Mangum while striking out 11 over seven innings.
As a team, the Pirates are now 10-26 against left-handed pitching and 47-36 against right-handers. They did, at least, break through against New York’s right-handed starter Robert Stock in the middle game, scoring eight runs in that 9-0 victory. But that was the exception, not the rule, and Pittsburgh has now lost most of its games against lefties since the All-Star break.
This series also fit a broader pattern. The Pirates entered it after a miserable road trip in which they won only two of eight games, dropping three of four in series against the Reds at Great American Ball Park from July 30-Aug. 2 and the Brewers from Aug.
3-6. Before that, they had already stumbled through a homestand in which they lost four of six, including two of three to the Chicago Cubs from July 24-26 and two of three to the Arizona Diamondabacks from July 27-29.
Since the All-Star break, Pittsburgh has won only one series, taking its first set against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on July 18-19. Over its last 20 games, the club has won just six.
A 58-62 record is not where the Pirates wanted to be at this point in the season, but it is where they sit. The offense has been poor, the starting pitching has slipped, and even a bullpen that looks better after the trade deadline has not been put in position to matter enough. Unless that changes fast, the postseason is slipping further out of reach.
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