Tim Benz: As consistently bad as Pirates' hitters have been, Tuesday night's failure was surreal

The Pirates’ season-long offensive ineptitude hit a new low in New York during a 2-1 loss to the Mets on Tuesday night.

It was the 19th straight game in which the Pirates failed to score more than four runs. That’s a franchise record.

Tuesday’s flop may have been the most maddening effort of the bunch.

I say that with full knowledge that the Pirates have been shut out three times during this tedious stretch. But given that the Pirates managed their only run by way of a bases-loaded walk, it’s as close to a shutout as you are going to get.

Just look at how the Pirates plodded through their nine innings at Citi Field.

The Bucco batters were 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position. The Pirates left 12 runners on base. The team wasted seven hits and five walks, striking out 11 times during the evening.

The Bucs began the game going down 1-2-3. Somehow, that was the least agonizing frame of the night. Let’s go inning-by-inning from there:

• In the second, Ke’Bryan Hayes tripled to center field with one out. The Pirates couldn’t get him home, though, because Alexander Canario popped out and Jared Triolo struck out.

• The Pirates had two men on with one out in the third, but couldn’t score because Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out and Bryan Reynolds grounded out.

• Joey Bart and Hayes got on base to open the fourth. The next three batters went down on strikes.

• Adam Frazier got to second with one out in the fifth. He was on third with Reynolds up and two outs. Reynolds flied out.

• After scoring a run in the sixth with a two-out, bases-loaded walk by Henry Davis in the sixth, Frazier grounded out to end the … um … “rally.”

• No one got beyond first base in the seventh or eighth. However, in the ninth, with runners at the corners and one out, Reynolds struck out, and Bart grounded out to end the game.

That was painful to write. Was it painful to read?

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Pittsburgh’s failures at the plate wasted a fine outing from Mitch Keller. He yielded just two runs and five hits over seven innings, striking out eight Mets and walking only one.

“He was fantastic. I knew it in the bullpen. Everything was dancing. When he is at his best, he can do a lot of different things with the ball. Different pitches. Different locations,” catcher Henry Davis said on SportsNet Pittsburgh. “From the start of the game, he was on top of everything.”

Yet, with no offensive support, Keller dropped to 1-5.

“It’s Major League Baseball. It’s a really hard game. Our hitters are trying their tails off,” Keller said. “But it’ll come, for sure.”

I’m glad he’s sure. I’m not.

“We’ve got to find a way to get those runs in and push them across,” manager Don Kelly said. “It’s not for a lack of (trying). But we’ve got to find a way to get it done.”

I watched Kelly’s press conference. He’s five games in as a manager, and he is already out of answers, just like Derek Shelton was before he was fired. The reporters are out of questions, too. How do you ask and answer the same thing over and over again, especially when we all know the answers?

The lineup just isn’t talented enough. Period. The hitters aren’t good enough. Four players in the batting order last night ended the evening under .200. They have the worst OPS (.625) in the National League. They have scored the fewest runs (133) in MLB. Those numbers don’t lie.

And, yeah, I know. Oneil Cruz is injured. Spencer Horwitz hasn’t gotten his first at-bat as a Pirate yet. Nick Gonzales is still hurt. Bryan Reynolds is in a wicked slump. Mets starter Kodai Senga now has a 1.22 ERA.

Those are real factors. But this is still surreal failure at the plate.

And it’s nothing good vibes from a managerial change can fix.