Pirates Series Takeaways: Starters Scuffle, Wetherholt’s Homecoming, Resiliency Tested
PITTSBURGH — Nothing went right for the Pirates during a four-game series at PNC Park in which the St. Louis Cardinals completed a sweep on Thursday afternoon.
Not even the starting pitching, which had been so, so good to start the season.
The Pirates went with a bullpen game on Monday night and it worked to perfection until closer Dennis Santana blew the save in the ninth. The traditional starters, however, didn’t have the same success.
Braxton Ashcraft allowed a career-high six runs on six hits in 4.1 innings on Tuesday’s loss. Bubba Chandler continued to battle control issues and was tagged for three runs in five innings on Wednesday.
The Pirates had who they wanted on the mound to try and avoid the sweep in the series finale, but even Paul Skenes struggled. He allowed three runs — on two homers — in the first inning and gave up five runs (four earned) in five innings.
“Just didn’t have the best command of everything in those first couple innings,” Skenes said when assessing his outing. “Settled in a little bit and they did a pretty good job the last few innings. Just had to grind through it.”
The offense is better this year, but quality starting pitching is going to be what the Pirates rely on the most — as is the case with just about every team in the league.
If the Pirates want to break their recent skid when the Cincinnati Reds come to town this weekend, manager Don Kelly knows better starting pitching will be one of the keys.
“I think that for the starters to continue to do what they’ve been doing all season, they’ve been so strong for us and such a strong foundation.”
Here are a couple other takeaways from a rough series.
Hometown Villain
Part of the reason the Pirates starting pitchers struggled was because of the impact Mars Area High School graduate JJ Wetherholt had on this series.
It was quite the showing for the seventh pick of the 2024 draft. Wetherholt, who received audible cheers from friends and family in attendance when he came through, combined to go 6 for 16 with three doubles, two home runs, three RBI, six runs and two walks.
Defensively, it felt like every other ball put in play was hit to him at second base, and he made every play.
“I thought he played some really good baseball,” said Kelly. “Got into some good counts, got some swings off, played some good defense. I thought he played well.”
Wetherholt is emerging as one of the front-runners to take home National League Rookie of the Year this season. Through 31 games to begin his big-league career, the 23-year-old is slashing .256/.378/.479 with five doubles, seven home runs, 16 RBI and four stolen bases. He’s second among National League rookies in home runs and is tied for second in runs batted in.
Something tells me he’s going to continue to be a thorn in the Pirates’ side during his career in St. Louis.
Resiliency Tested Like Never Before
The Pirates have largely had an uncanny ability to bounce back this season. Entering this series, the Pirates had not lost back-to-back games since two straight losses against the Mets in New York to begin the year.
Their resiliency, however, had only been tested in small doses. Now comes their first real challenge.
Lengthy losing streaks have plagued the Pirates in recent seasons, and while a five-game skid is only a drop in the bucket in a 162-game season, they cannot afford to let things snowball. Especially considering how the division is performing.
What’s the key?
“The biggest thing is flush it,” said Brandon Lowe. “You never want to let a team come in and take four [games], but that’s the reality of where we’re at. But we’ve got 162 games. It sucks, you’re gonna lose games. It sucks that so many have come in such a short span, but flush it. Reset yourself. We’ve got another good team coming in tomorrow.”
It could be the case that the Reds coming to town is exactly what the doctor ordered. Pittsburgh took two of three in Cincinnati earlier in the season and is 43-21 against the Reds at PNC Park since the start of the 2018 season.
But at the same time, the past is the past. The Pirates will need to play much better — and cleaner — if they want to put an end to this losing streak.
“Every team is going to have skids,” Skenes explained. “Just got to get back to who we are and just play our game. Not try to do too much. Just think we’re trying to do too much a little bit, especially today. Just got to be us.”
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