Shelton Rips Pirates After Horrible Loss, ‘I Don’t Know if I’ve Been as Pissed’

PITTSBURGH — It looked like the Pittsburgh Pirates would end on a good note after two dreadful showings to start their series against the Cubs.

On Monday at PNC Park, the Pirates were blown out 18-8 as nothing seemed to go right. The following night, the Pirates jumped ahead 2-0 in the first inning before Chicago responded with nine unanswered runs for another resounding victory.

On Wednesday, the Pirates were sitting with a comfortable seven-run advantage at the start of the seventh inning. The offense broke out and built a commanding 10-3 lead. But the Pirates’ bullpen couldn’t hold on.

The Cubs responded with 11 unanswered runs, including six in the ninth inning to take and build on their first lead of the game. Chicago ended up winning the game 14-10.

“It’s frustrating. It’s about as frustrated as I’ve been,” manager Derek Shelton bluntly stated after the game. “We’ve got to execute. You cannot have a 10-3 game in the seventh inning and give up 11 runs. We’ve got to be better.”

After starter Paul Skenes allowed three runs (two earned) across five innings pitched, four Pirates’ relievers combined to allow 11 runs. Dennis Santana, who recorded two outs in mop-up duty, was the only reliever without a run on his leger.

The troubling trend for the Pirates continued during a dreadful August. After the loss, the Pirates have gone 7-18 during the lost. Numerous times throughout that stretch, the Pirates had a late lead but could not finish off a win.

“Look at the games we’ve lost in August. It’s because we have not finished games,” Shelton said. “How many of these games have we had the lead? How many of these games have we been one strike away, one pitch away? We’ve gotta figure out how to finish games.”

Kyle Nicolas was the first one out of the bullpen and allowed two runs across 1.1 innings. Aroldis Chapman was charged with three runs and recorded three outs. In the ninth, the Pirates still had a 10-8 lead, but David Bednar blew his sixth save of the season as he and Jalen Beeks combined to allow six runs to score on six hits and two walks.

“He had no command of the secondary stuff,” Shelton said on Bednar. “Had to throw fastballs. I mean, we almost got out of it. Alika (Williams) made a hell of a play and we almost got out of it. (Isiah Kiner-Falefa) would’ve had to make a good play, but I mean, we have to cover. We had a 10-3 lead into the seventh. We have to cover the game”

Shelton’s frustrations following the loss paint a bigger picture into what’s happened to the Pirates in a few short weeks.

It was less than a month ago that the Pirates bought at the trade deadline in hopes of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2015. Instead, those playoff aspirations have disappeared.

The Pirates have dropped to last place in the National League Central and are 10.5 games out of a wild card spot following Wednesday’s loss.

The series against the Cubs — and Wednesday’s game in particular — has more or less been the breaking point.

“I don’t know about the last three (games), but today, it’s right up there,” Shelton said. “I don’t know if I’ve been as pissed as I am right now.”

What’s left for the Pirates to do at this point other than salvage as much as they can during the rest of the season?

There was still a sliver of hope as recently as Sunday that the Pirates could make a push for the playoffs.

“You’ve just got to keep believing,” Yasmani Grandal said after hitting a walk-off two-run home run to lift the Pirates over the Cincinnati Reds.

After being swept in a series in which the Pirates allowed 41 runs to score, that ever-so small belief feels like it has gone kaput in a matter of a few days with the worst-played series of the year.