The Pirates were swept at home by the rival Chicago Cubs in dreadful fashion.
There is no way to spin this one, no way to find a silver lining, no way to try to make an excuse for what we saw on the field.
In a season with a plethora of worthy candidates, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost their worst game of the season on Wednesday afternoon at the hands of the Chicago Cubs. The Pirates were swept by their division rival. They gave up 41 runs in three games. That has never happened at home before in team history. AT HOME.
Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, and Paul Skenes started all three games of the series against Chicago, arguably a top-five core of starting pitchers in all of baseball. They lost all three games by four runs or more. It’s the first time the Pirates have lost a game the led by seven or more runs since 2011.
There have been a lot of candidates for the worst loss of the season, does any of them come close to this?
To recap:
Game 1: Pirates lose 18-8, give up 21 hits and eight steals for the first time in an MLB game since 1921.
Game 2: Pirates lose 9-5, walked in two runs with the bases loaded, and have walked in a league-worst 17 runs.
Game 3: Pirates blow a 10-3 lead from the seventh inning on and allowed 11 runs in the final three frames. The Cubs scored six runs in the ninth. The bullpen has completely let them down.
It’s so bad that Livvy Dunne is sharing her adopted Yinzer frustration on social media like all of us.
— Olivia Dunne (@livvydunne) August 28, 2024
The current regime is in year five. Someone needs to be held accountable for this. You have to move on from SOMEONE and shake up the staleness that continues to plague the Pirates organization.
Derek Shelton owns a career record of 280-399. His next loss will be his 400th as a Pirate. 120 more losses than wins in five seasons. His .412 winning percentage is great as an area code but lousy as a half-decade of losses.
The Pirates need a factory reset. My coworker Joe Starkey believes there’s an over 90 percent chance Shelton will be fired at the end of the season. I fall closer to 30 percent.
Great Pirates reporter John Perrotto, who’s been around the team for 30 years, said Bob Nutting doesn’t like confrontation and making drastic changes. He likes a “yes” man who doesn’t push back on the company line.
We saw Shelton visibly frustrated Wednesday after blowing a seven-run lead. Tensions are starting to boil over. It’s starting to feel like the end of Clint Hurdle’s tenure.
Nutting has a considerable decision to make this offseason, and he has options:
- Fire Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton
- Retain Ben Cherington, fire Shelton
- Bring both Cherington and Shelton back in 2025
If I was a betting man, I’d bet both men return for year six. If I were the man making the call, the voice in the clubhouse would change, and the man behind the front office would be on razor-thin ice.
They can’t be content with complacency. The Pirates were 55-52 on July 30. They’re 7-19 since. You think the collapses in 2011 and 2012 were bad? Perrotto said this week it might be the worst month of baseball in Pirates history. Let that sink in. The Pirates are in season 133.
It’s time for change. I’m just not sure the Pirates are looking through a lens the media and fans are seeing clear as day. David Bednar is a shell of his former self and makes me wonder if the Pirates lost their chance to trade him for signiciant value and should have at one of the last two trade deadlines.
Before Clint Hurdle was fired before the final game of the 2019 campaign, players were fighting in the clubhouse, effort was questioned, and a scapegoat was looking to be had after disastrous seasons.
This is a very similar situation, minus the punches. There’s still a month left… anything can happen.