It was the kind of start that the Pittsburgh Pirates got so often over the first four months of the season. The kind of start from a pitcher that was good enough to overcome whatever struggles the offense, bullpen or defense had been going through at the time.

And it came from an unlikely source.

Monday night, Jake Woodford (0-4, 5.87 ERA) was pressed into service to open a game against the scalding San Diego Padres, and he delivered. The 27-year-old right-hander scattered three hits and one earned run over six innings, walking no one.

It still wasn’t good enough, though, as the Pirates (56-62) fell for the 10th time in 11 tries. This time, 2-1 to the Padres (67-53). The Padres have now won 10 of 12 and are tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the top Wild Card spot in the National League. Meanwhile, the Pirates have sunk into last place in the NL Central Division.

Woodford’s empty effort is somewhat emblematic of how things have collapsed for the Pirates this month.

Nothing can go right. When the Pirates hit, they can’t pitch. When they pitch, they can’t hit. When the defense is good, they can’t score. When they score, they give back runs with errors.

If the starters are good, the bullpen blows a lead. When the starters struggle, the bullpen keeps them in it until something else goes wrong.

That’s how you lose eight games in a row.

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Many of these faults have been present for the Pirates since April. The bullpen has been inconsistent. Run production has been a problem throughout the year. And the roster has three or four guys per night in the field who might be best served as a designated hitter.

But it’s the starting pitching that has held this team together. After all, the Pirates went from May 10 until Aug. 7 without losing three games in a row. Good starting pitching was, by far, the biggest reason for that.

As a staff, the Pirates have 52 quality starts in 2024. Only the Philadelphia Phillies (61) have more in the National League.

At least once every few days, manager Derek Shelton got a start from a pitcher that was so exceptional, even if nothing else was working, that outing would be good enough to stop a losing streak at two games.

Every two or three days, even if every other aspect of the team was cracking, a good start stabilized things for a day. Quite often, those starts have come from Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller. Early in the season, Jared Jones was chipping in too. From mid-June through the end of July, Luis Ortiz was sharp as well.

Of late, though, prior to Woodford’s appearance on Monday, even the starting rotation has begun to wobble.

Skenes has allowed 15 base runners and six earned runs over his past two outings (11 ⅓ innings pitched). For the first time in his sparkling rookie season, the big right-hander out of LSU is starting to look human. He hasn’t been credited with a win in a month.

Keller just gave up seven earned runs in four innings to the Los Angeles Dodgers during a 9-5 loss. That snapped a streak of five straight games that the Pirates have won with him on the mound.

Ortiz has yielded 13 earned runs over his last 16⅓ innings. Jones hasn’t pitched since July 3 because of injury, and Bailey Falter’s last turn Sunday resulted in 93 pitches, four earned runs, seven hits and three walks in four innings en route to a 6-5 loss in Los Angeles.

So even the once-solid starting rotation is taking on water as this Pirates’ ship is sinking in the Pacific Ocean.

At this point, one has to wonder if Skenes (92 IP) and Keller (136½ IP) will be shut down early at some point in September. Also, if Jones does come back, to what extent will he be turned loose?

After all, even for a team that so rarely has a winning season, chasing .500 is nowhere near as interesting as chasing a playoff spot.

Less than 10 days ago, the latter seemed like a legitimate possibility.

Now, both are starting to feel like a long shot.

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