The Pirates play the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, and Milwaukee Brewers in 10 games that could define the season.
Welcome to Bechtold’s Core Four, where I preview four Pittsburgh Pirates topics, events, or storylines worth following this week. In this weekly feature, we’ll discover what you would keep an eye on as the week progresses in the world of the Pirates and Major League Baseball. Let’s go.
You Must Go 6-4, AT LEAST
Well, we might know who the Pirates are after the next three series. We have a good idea, maybe a great idea, of what they are now: a team that relies on starting pitching and a shaky bullpen to be stabilized before the back end and win low-scoring games. Their offense isn’t just a far cry from the days of The Lumber Company, but a loud scream heard for miles.
The Pirates host St. Louis for the first of a three-game series at PNC Park beginning Tuesday, followed by four against the surging New York Mets (thanks, Grimmace) and three in Milwaukee versus the first-place Brewers. The Bucs then play arguably the worst team in baseball on the South Side of Chicago.
Derek Shelton’s club must go at least 6-4. They finished 3-3 during the previous road trip and avoided being swept by Atlanta thanks to Oneil Cruz and Rowdy Tellez’s two-run shots. Three games back of the Cardinals for the final wild-card spot and 3.5 back of San Diego for the second, the Pirates need their first true winning streak to present itself. Enough treading water. This could either sink or swim the trade deadline and the remainder of the regular season.
Welcome to July, B-Rey
Bryan Reynolds channeled his inner Babe Ruth/Mickey Mantle in June. His MLB-leading 25-game hitting streak ended Sunday in Atlanta following an 0-4 day at the plate. It’s the longest Pirates hitting streak in over 20 years. It came down to the wire in his last two games to see if Reynolds could keep the streak alive, singling in the top of the 8th on Friday and smashing a ball up against the right-field wall for a two-out triple in the top of the 9th to claim No. 25.
Reynolds is the first switch hitter in Pirates history to record a hit in 25 consecutive games. He is tied for seventh on the organization’s all-time hit streak list with two guys who played over 90 years ago, Freddie Lindstrom (1933) and Clyde Barnhart (1925). He hit .330 in June with 35 hits, six home runs, and 16 RBIs in 26 games. What does he have for an encore?
An all-time hitter in June, July presents difficult challenges for Reynolds. After hitting .333 during the year’s sixth month in 2022, Reynolds hit an even .200 in July. Ironically enough, Reynolds hit .200 last July as well, following a .268 mark in June. The Pirates offense can’t afford Reynolds to disappear again as the playoff race heats up.
No Ortiz, Perez Returns, Jones Back in the Rotation
The Pirates will start Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, and Martin Perez against the Cardinals. Despite a six-inning, one-run performance tallying no walks and seven strikeouts in Cincinnati, Luis Ortiz will not start a game in the near future. It was Ortiz’s best performance all season by a mile. His next turn in the rotation would have been Wednesday, Jared Jones day.
Jones returns to the bump for the first time since June 22. On pace for over 170 innings, the Pirates skipped Jones’ Friday start in Atlanta and pushed him back five days to prevent shutting him down in September. It may frustrate fans now, but is a better alternative compared to during a potential postseason push. The same will likely happen to Paul Skenes shortly, where one start is bypassed for a bullpen day or healthy starter (Quinn Priester, Marco Gonzales, Mike Burrows). The move makes sense. Jones owns a 2.20 ERA through eight home starts, but a 5.59 ERA in seven starts away from PNC Park.
I’m holding my breath Thursday that Martin Perez can deliver a quality start. He faced Atlanta in his last two outings. Perez allowed only one run in three innings before being pulled with a groin injury. Atlanta tagged him for six in four frames Friday and sunk Perez’s season record to 1-4. It’s time to put him in the bullpen. That’s what Texas did late in the season last year en route to the World Series. If Perez fails to keep the Pirates afloat, Priester and Gonzales are waiting in the wings to take his spot. I think he’d be better in a one or two-inning role as a reliever anyway.
Prove it
Something stood out to me Tuesday surrounding the belief of those covering the Pirates. Beat writer Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette joined us on The Joe Starkey Show and said he views this season as the final year of the rebuild, but “I don’t think they’ve shown you enough to say this should be the all-in season.” Andrew thinks adding a decent bat or two could help the Pirates sneak into the playoffs and win a series.
He pointed to bringing back Miguel Andujar as a possible option. Andrew even speculated that the Pirates could trade Aroldis Chapman for prospects and stock up to trade assets in the offseason and at the next deadline. He thinks they could buy and sell at the same time to get something to go all in next year. What are we doing here?
The Pirates need to take advantage of the opportunity presented to them RIGHT NOW and go for it. I’m not advocating for a Pete Alonso or Vlad Guerrero Jr. trade; that would cost too much prospect capital for a team that’s not ‘one piece away’ and Alonso, a pending free agent. In the same sense, go trade for Angels outfielder Taylor Ward (arbitration eligible through 2026) and/or DH/OF Brent Rooker (free agent after 2027) of the A’s. Both are controllable and have hit 14 or more home runs and driven in 40+ runs this season. Both would be the team leader in homers and Rooker in RBIs. Strike while the iron’s hot.