Pirates Offense Can’t Break Through in 2-0 Defeat to Orioles; Contreras Pitches Gem

When it rains, it pours. The Pittsburgh Pirates (21-19) fall to the Baltimore Orioles (26-13) in a 2-0 contest, after the offense couldn’t help out a Roansy Contreras (3-4, 4.40 ERA) gem.

Adley Rutschman’s solo shot in the first inning and Gunnar Henderson’s homer in the second ended up being all the Orioles needed to best the Pirates

Contreras did all he could to keep the Pirates within striking distance, despite giving up two homers during his outing.

The young Pirates’ righty leaned heavily on his four-seam (56% usage) through seven strong innings, and despite not getting a ton of swing and miss with it, he kept hitters off balance and limited hard contact, for the most part, Saturday night.

The two homers he gave up were off of breaking balls (slider and curveball), and both were left in rather juicy spots for Rutschman (down and in slider) and Gunnar Henderson (lower middle curveball).

Contreras also hit a tick above his year average on his four-seam at an average of 94.5 mph Saturday night. Contreras’ final line read seven innings pitched, five hits, two earned runs, one walk, and one strikeout.

That is the first quality start for the Pirates since Mitch Keller’s complete game shutout on May 8 against the Colorado Rockies.

Tyler Wells (3-1, 2.68 ERA) was nothing short of dominant in his outing against the Pirates and even retired 17 hitters in a row after a leadoff single from Carlos Santana in the second inning.

Wells had the Pirates’ bats whiffing left and right, it seemed, with 18 total through seven innings.

One of the biggest opportunities for the Pirates occurred in the seventh inning, where Santana and Jack Suwinski drew two-out walks with Miguel Andujar coming to the plate.

On a 2-1 count, Andujar drilled a 100 mph bullet to the opposite field, and what would’ve been the tying hit, turned into an amazing catch for Anthony Santander.

There was another moment in the eighth inning with Tucupita Marcano on third base and Ke’Bryan Hayes at the plate.

Hayes ended up hitting a 100.5 mph liner to, you guessed it, Santander and the Pirates were left staring at the clouds, wondering what they needed to do to break through.