In the eyes of many Pittsburgh sports fans, there’s a bit of an empty feeling. The Penguins’ season is over, and the Steelers’ season hasn’t started yet — so what now? Over the past three years, the strong play of the Pirates has tided fans over during the sports lull, but a stretch of poor play has some fans feeling blasé.
Prior to Monday night’s 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants, the Pirates had lost their last five games and 10 of their last 11. They are currently one game below .500 (34-36, .486) and are 14.5 games back of the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs. (The Pirates sit two games back of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals.)
But, in Monday’s game, Pittsburgh won the duel against the Giants, who had won their last eight-straight and had won 27 out of their past 35 games — and who sent someone named Madison Bumgarner to the mound. (Perhaps you’ve heard of him.)
Bumgarner entered with an 8-2 record and a 1.91 ERA and was facing the Pirates’ Jeff Locke, who has been a model of inconsistency this season. Basically, it didn’t seem like there were good odds that the Pirates could win this game. But they did.
No one gave the Pirates much of a chance because how far they’ve fallen this season, especially after the strong start they got off to early.
A monster June schedule has set Pittsburgh back, and the Pirates have been dealt a tough hand with injuries to major players. Right now, pitcher Gerrit Cole is on the DL right now with a right triceps muscle strain, and so is catcher Francisco Cervelli, who broke a hamate bone in his left hand.
In particular, Cole’s injury has come at the worst possible time. The starting rotation has struggled, and Cole had been a lone bright spot. Francisco Liriano is getting lit up (in June, he has a 6.60 ERA and has allowed 20 hits on 15 innings). Jeff Locke, prior to Monday’s game, was second on the team in innings pitched — with a 5.92 ERA. (The Pirates have called up prospect Jameson Taillon, who has looked good in his three starts, and fellow pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow is likely on the up way, too, so things could improve for this rotation.)
General manager Neal Huntington has shouldered some blame for the rotation, admittedly whiffing on getting pitching in the off-season, but what’s done is done.
Star Andrew McCutchen hasn’t seen the type of production he, the team and the fans are used to. He’s currently batting .243/.322/.412, which isn’t awful, but it’s not what people have come to expect from a centerfielder who is coming off four straight top-five MVP finishes. McCutchen’s struggles could be due to a nagging right thumb injury, and, as he gets healthy, he could easily turn the NL Central race on its head if he returns to MVP form (and the Cubs somehow miraculously slow down.)
For now, the Pirates are back to embracing a role they relish: being the underdog.
Right now, the Cubs are running away with the division to the point that the race for the division title has likely been decided. But the Pirates are just a few games out of the second NL wildcard spot. If the rotation gets some help and McCutchen and the rest of the team’s bats gets hot, Pittsburgh certainly remains in the playoff hunt.
A one-run win such as the one Monday night, where catcher Erik Kratz (who recently joined the team from the Los Angeles Angels) got the game-winning hit, a home run off Bumgarner, shows the kind of grit these Pirates have. They refuse to give up, and they know there’s a lot of baseball left to play and plenty left to fight for.
The Pirates are entering a crucial stretch before the All-Star break, continuing this series against the Giants and with home contests against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cubs. Pittsburgh also has a West Coast road trip against the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics, followed by a three-game road series against the Cardinals.
Right now, the Pirates scare absolutely nobody. But, if they can figure some things out, that could change quickly.
Image credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
