As painful as it was to watch the Pirates in 2020, it’s especially disturbing to realize that they have the same number of games left in this season as they played in all of that one. That’s after the Brewers completed their three-game stomping of the Bucs with a 12-0 romp. In the series, the Pirates got outscored 28-3. They batted .143, with one extra-base hit and no RBIs by anybody not named Castro. In their last four games, MLB’s worst offense is 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
Chad Kuhl had a pretty good start. He gave up just one run over the first five innings. In the sixth, he gave up a one-out RBI double and Derek Shelton took him out. Chris Stratton then made his case to stay in Pittsburgh. He gave up a double to Tyrone Taylor to let Kuhl’s runner score. Taylor finished with three doubles on the day. Later in the inning Stratton gave up a three-run homer to backup catcher Manny Pina, who came in with a .135 average and .558 OPS. Pina finished the day with two homers and five RBIs. Stratton gave up another longball in the next inning to Rowdy Tellez.
Austin Davis gave up two more runs in the eighth, one of them earned. John Nogowski pitched the ninth and allowed three runs.
The Pirates’ offense had three singles and a walk. Two of the runners were wiped out on a double play and a caught stealing. They got one runner past first.
