Remember earlier this season, when the Pirates rolled to a 9-2 start despite making a litany of mistakes in both the field and on the basepaths? There’s a good chance you do, given all the comments about it I remember seeing online. We were all amazed that the Bucs were able to get off to such an impressive start despite their lack of fundamentals, and we all wondered how good this team could really be if they cleaned up their play.
Well, one thing has changed since then: the Pirates have stopped winning, but the mistakes in the field go on. In retrospect, perhaps it was easier for the Bucs to overcome their fielding and baserunning issues in the early going because they faced teams like the Marlins and Nationals — two clubs who rank among the dregs of the National League and are ill-suited to take advantage of such gifts. Things are a little different when the Bucs play a team like the Mets or Brewers. Neither New York nor Milwaukee is a juggernaut, but they’re good enough teams that if you keep handing them opportunities, eventually they’re going to take advantage. And that’s exactly why the Pirates ended up losing on Thursday.
This was not a game I expected the Buccos to win when I woke up in the morning. Freddy Peralta, de facto ace fo the Brewers, was starting for the visitors and facing a lineup that had Rowdy Tellez batting third and Joey Bart in the cleanup spot. This initially baffling lineup construction surprisingly worked out, as the Bucs flipped an early 1-0 deficit to a 3-1 advantage thanks to a 3-run homer from Bart in the 1st. The Buccos ended up putting 5 runs on the board, which is —incredibly — the most runs they’ve scored since the 9-2 win in Philadelphia on April 14.
In the field, though, the Pirates did seemingly everything in their power to squander this early lead against a tough starter. In the 2nd, Mitch Keller didn’t exactly help his cause by walking the first 2 hitters of the inning and then giving up a 1-out RBI single. The throw home on that RBI single was cut off by Tellez, who saw William Contreras hung up between second and third, dead to rights. Instead of gunning the ball to third, Tellez hesitated and allowed Contreras to reach third safely. Instead of 2 outs and a runner on first, there was 1 out and runners on the corners. The next Brewer lined the ball to right, where Reynolds allowed a relatively catchable fly ball to clank off his glove. What should have been the third out of the inning was instead another error and another run scored, and just like that the Bucs had squandered a 3-1 lead. In the 5th, Milwaukee took the lead when Jack Suwinski couldn’t pull down a slicing fly ball for the final out of the inning. Don’t get me wrong, it would’ve been a nice catch if he’d made it — but Suwinski would probably tell you that he should have caught it, and he’s right.
That’s 2 runs right there — the ultimate deficit in Thursday’s game. But other mistakes, while not directly leading to runs, cost the Pirates outs and pitches. Keller didn’t pitch all that badly, but he had to be pulled after 5 innings since the errors in the 3rd greatly extended that inning. The trickle-down effects are felt throughout the game. Maybe he pitches deeper into the game, and Derek Shelton doesn’t have to use Colin Holderman until the 8th inning. Maybe Holderman can pitch another frame if Tellez doesn’t miss the bag on a throw to first base. Maybe Aroldis Chapman doesn’t have to face Gary Sanchez. Maybe the Brewers don’t tack on another run in the 9th.
At the end of the day, a split against a red-hot Brewers team is hardly a huge disappointment. The Pirates played them closely all series. But these close losses illustrate how slim the margin for error is, and the Bucs aren’t going to find much success this year if they continue to exceed that margin as much as they have in April.
Bucco Ball 