Best way for Pirates to start crucial division stretch is to be less than friendly to a former friend
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If you had asked any Pittsburgh Pirates fan at the start of 2023 if they’d be OK with the team being 34-30 and in first place of the National League Central on June 13, they’d have gladly said “Yes!”
But at the start of last week, if you had said, “Would you be OK with the first-place Pirates merely managing a 3-3 split with the Oakland A’s and New York Mets during the last six games of their recent homestand, I doubt that answer would have been as universally embraced.
Not with the historically bad A’s entering PNC Park with just five road wins all year. Not with the struggling Mets coming to the North Shore losers of six in a row.
However, with elevated win totals come elevated expectations. And if a team is in first place in June, it is fair to say a .500 stretch against lesser competition at home isn’t good enough.
At least manager Derek Shelton’s crew did win two of three from the Mets, and those previously pathetic A’s managed to stay hot after winning a series in Pittsburgh and went to Milwaukee and swept the Brewers in a three-game set over the weekend.
As a result, after a day off Monday, the Pirates (34-30) return to action Tuesday night to begin a crucial stretch of nine consecutive games against division competition atop the NL Central. They lead the division by a game over Milwaukee (34-32). The third-place Cincinnati Reds (32-35) sit 3½ back, followed by the fourth-place Cubs (28-37), who are 6½ games back. The St. Louis Cardinals are in last place at 27-40, 8½ games behind the Pirates.
I know. I had to double-check that last sentence too. But it’s fun to read, isn’t it?
Obviously, no one in the division is all that good right now, and maybe the Pirates can pick up some ground now that they are actually playing a few games within it. The Pirates are scheduled to play three night games in a row at Wrigley Field in Chicago against the Cubs from Tuesday through Thursday. Then they make the short trip to Milwaukee for a three-game weekend series against the Brewers. Starting June 19, the Cubs make their first trip to PNC Park of the year for a quick-turnaround, three-game rematch.
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Surprisingly, the Pirates are 64 games into the season, and they have yet to play either of those two division rivals. Meanwhile, they are a combined 10-4 against the other two Central teams, the Reds and Cardinals.
So it’s time for the Pirates to do what they didn’t do against Oakland and New York, and that is play better-than-average baseball. That’s from the standpoint of boosting their own record while potentially denting the winning percentages of two other teams in the division, as well.
And the need for an improved quality of play goes beyond just the wins and losses. The Pirates were fortunate to eke out a win in the first game of the A’s series, courtesy of numerous Oakland miscues. And the Pirates only managed three runs over the last two games of that Mets series after posting 14 during a blowout win Friday night.
Hitting with runners in scoring position and leaving men on base were real problems for the Pirates during their recently concluded homestand. During that stretch, they left 70 men on base, stranding eight or more runners in a game six times. They hit .216 in those games with runners in scoring position (.153 if you discount the 7 of 11 performance during the 14-7 football score against the Mets on Friday).
For the season, the Pirates are hitting .264 with runners in scoring position, tied for eighth place in Major League Baseball at the start of play Monday night. They need to find that form starting Tuesday against a Cubs team whose pitching has been up and down lately. They just lost in San Francisco 13-3 on Sunday. But they won the previous two games against the Giants 3-2 and 4-0. Before that, they had dropped four in a row against the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels, allowing a total of 21 runs in those four games.
Former Pirate Jameson Taillon is slated to start for the Cubs. He has struggled so far in his first year in Chicago, posting a 1-4 record and a 7.02 ERA. He’ll be opposed by Luis Ortiz, who allowed two earned runs and 12 base runners over five innings of relief Wednesday during a 9-5 loss to Oakland.
Taillon is a wonderful guy and was well-liked by just about everyone in Pittsburgh during his time here. But jumping all over him and continuing his tough start to 2023 in an effort to get Ortiz some run support would be the best possible way to start this stretch of divisional games for the Pirates.