Pirates Series Takeaways: Perfect Storm, Skenes Has Competition, O’Hearn Loss a Blow
PITTSBURGH — In the battle of the Keystone State, the Philadelphia Phillies were the key winners over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pirates were swept in three games by a combined score of 23-9. Pittsburgh blew a late lead on Friday night before being shut out by identical 6-0 finals in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.
Not a whole lot went right for the Pirates over the course of the three days. The bullpen cost them in the first game of the series. The starting pitching and offense had poor showings in the next two.
Despite an ugly showing, the Pirates aren’t worried about having their resiliency tested.
“It’s probably a good time for an off day, but I think we are in a good spot going into this next stretch,” said Paul Skenes, who took the loss on Sunday. “Not worried about how we will respond at all.”
Here are three takeaways from a series the Pirates are surely glad to move on from.
Philly on a Roll
The Phillies entered this season with expectations as a playoff team but stumbled out of the gate with a 9-19 showing through the first 28 games of the year. The early-season struggles led to the dismissal of former manager Rob Thompson, who was let go at the end of April.
Bench coach Don Mattingly took over as manager, and the Phillies are now 15-4 since the managerial change.
There is plenty of star power in Philadelphia’s lineup, notably the top three of the speedy Trea Turner, MLB home runs leader Kyle Schwarber, and former MVP Bryce Harper.
“There aren’t many top threes in the league that can match the production that those guys have had over the course of their careers,” manager Don Kelly said. “They’ve shown that.”
Additionally, the Phillies have two of the top starting pitchers in the National League in Cristopher Sánchez and Zack Wheeler, both of whom pitched in the series and threw a combined 16-shutout innings.
“They are [two of the better pitchers in the league] and that’s where we want to get to, competing on that level,” said Kelly. “We have to find a way to be better and get stuff going against those guys.”
The Pirates didn’t play very well, and I’m by no means excusing getting swept, but it kind of felt like a perfect storm rolled into town from the eastern side of the state.
“I think you see a Phillies team right now that’s playing really good baseball,” Kelly said. “Looking back to Friday night, we had an opportunity and we didn’t capitalize on it and we need to find a way to bounce back after a tough series next series against St. Louis.”
Sánchez Makes CY Statement
Skenes and Sánchez might be the two best pitchers in baseball right now, but the latter might be the early favorite to win this year’s National League Cy Young.
Starts don’t get much better than the one Sánchez had against the Pirates on Saturday. The left-hander threw a complete-game shutout and struck out a career-high 13 batters. By firing off nine-scoreless innings, Sánchez has now gone 28.2 straight innings without allowing a run, the longest-active streak in MLB.
“He mixes it up. Sinker was elite today,” manager Don Kelly said after Saturday’s game. “The slider and changeup, he could throw for strikes, he could throw beneath the zone. Everything comes out and looks the same. He really kept us off-balanced and we couldn’t get much going there.”
The duo made up the top two of the Cy Young vote a year ago and look poised to do it again. Skenes won last year’s award unanimously, but Sánchez is now 5-2 with a 1.82 ERA through his first 10 starts of the season. A lot of season remains, but he has the edge so far.
Losing O’Hearn
The Pirates have largely been fortunate in terms of the injury bug this season, but losing outfield/first baseman Ryan O’Hearn is a blow. The Pirates placed the 32-year-old on the 10-day injured list with a right quad strain.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said on his 93.7 The Fan radio show that O’Hearn’s absence will go beyond the 10-day minimum. While too early to predict an exact timetable, Cherington believes four weeks is a rough estimate.
“Obviously, losing a guy like [O’Hearn] is a big blow,” said Kelly.
O’Hearn has been one of the Pirates’ top offensive contributors after signing as a free agent in the offseason. In 44 games to begin the year, he carries a robust .289/.368/.459 with six doubles, seven home runs and 29 RBI. He ranks second on the team in average, OPS (.827), third in slugging, hits (46), home runs and RBI and is fourth in on-base percentage.
In O’Hearn’s place, the Pirates will have their choice of using Jake Mangum, Billy Cook and the newly-anointed outfielder Jared Triolo in right and at first base when Spencer Horwitz needs a breather. (Nick Yorke was optioned to Indianapolis after the game). Endy Rodríguez is also an option to back-up Horwitz at first. Nobody of that bunch has proven they can consistently provide the same impact as O’Hearn at the plate, but someone will need to make up for what’s lost.
“There’s going to be some opportunity for other guys to step up and get some meaningful at-bats and have an opportunity to do some things offensively,” said Kelly.
More about:Pirates