One of Pirates’ Few Bright Spots Dimming; Team’s Struggles Build

PITTSBURGH — It was a homestand to forget for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and it was one for Andrew Heaney as well.

Heaney’s career with the Pirates couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start.

Up until the Pirates returned home for six games with the Chicago Cubs followed by the San Diego Padres, Heaney was 2-1 with a remarkable 1.72 ERA through his first six starts of the year. Opponents hit just .165 against him with a .479 OPS while the left-hander struck out 31 batters in 31.1 innings.

He was particularly sharp against the New York Yankees on Apr. 6, when he struck out 10 in 7.0 innings. In back-to-back starts agaisnt the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels, Heaney combined for 13.1-shutout innings.

But in his first start of the homestand against the Cubs on Tuesday night, Heaney saw a career-high 19.1-consecutive scoreless innings streak come to an end when he allowed four runs in 4.2 innings in a 9-0 loss.

In the Pirates’ 4-0 loss to the Padres on Sunday afternoon, Heaney again struggled.

“Just nibbling and then not making pitches when I needed to,” Heaney simply stated on what went wrong.

Heaney retired the first two batters he faced before four-straight reached with two outs and the Padres took a 1-0 lead in the first.

The following inning, Heaney allowed a home run to former Pirates catcher Elias Díaz and two more on a double from Xander Bogaerts.

The Padres knocked Heaney around for eight hits and four runs in 3.2 innings. He also walked four batters, struck out three and threw 100 pitches before manager Derek Shelton went to the bullpen.

“It looked like he wasn’t missing by much,” said Shelton. “He was missing. They were balls, but he wasn’t missing by much, and (the Padres) did not expand the zone.”

Heaney has allowed two more runs over his last two starts than he did through his first five outings of the season. His season ERA has jumped from 1.72 to 3.18.

While his overall numbers are still strong, Heaney will try and get back to where he was before his two most recent starts.

As for the Pirates. Sunday’s loss capped off a 1-5 homestand and has them at 12-23 on the year, the third-worst record in baseball. Only the Colorado Rockies (6-27) and Chicago White Sox (9-24) have worse records a the conclusion of play.

Getting the season back on track feels like an impossible task given what the Pirates have done so far.

There’s no wave of a magic wand, and to make matters worse, the upcoming schedule won’t make things any easier.

Eight of the Pirates’ next 10 series are against teams with a winning record. The two sub-.500 opponents are an upcoming three-game series in St. Louis before returning home for a three-game series back home against the Atlanta Braves.

Shelton has said the Pirates need to be more consistent in every area of the game, but especially offensively. That too, is easier said than done.

“That’s something I’m probably gonna think a lot about tonight and have been thinking a lot about, but there has to be some sort of consistency,” said Shelton. “This lineup’s better than this.”

It’s time to show that the team is better than what they’ve shown. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long year of baseball on the North Shore. Or has it already been one?