The Pittsburgh Pirates are a sinking ship whose skipper Derek Shelton seems at a loss when asked for answers about how to reverse course for their offensive ineptitude as they approach the quarter pole.
Shelton didn’t even have a message to share with his team.
“Right now, that’s what we’re working through,” Shelton said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show following a 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday. “I wish I had a good answer for that.”
It marked the seventh consecutive defeat for the Pirates (12-26), a stretch in which they scored a total of 12 runs on 41 hits, including eight for extra bases, batted .140 (6 for 43) with runners in scoring position and stranded 53 runners. It was the seventh time the Pirates have been shut out and the fourth time they have been swept in a series.
In a guest appearance on MLB Network during the winter meetings in December, Shelton called NL Central “a division we can win” because of their starting pitching. Shelton allowed that they “do need to add bats,” which didn’t happen. Instead, the Pirates are in last place, 10 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs and a startling seven games behind the rest of the pack.
And Shelton is on the hot seat, fighting for his survival.
1. No quality support: Shelton was right about the starting rotation putting the Pirates in position to be competitive.
Right-handers Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller have had quality starts in five of eight outings, while lefties Bailey Falter and Andrew Heaney have had quality starts in three of seven outings.
Yet the Pirates are 9-7 when their pitchers make a quality start. Seven have been decided by one run, and they are 4-3 in those games. Falter, Skenes and Keller have all made quality starts during the seven-game losing streak, but the Pirates scored a combined two runs in those three games.
The Pirates have scored 18 runs in Skenes’ five quality starts, though the majority came in a 10-3 win over the Washington Nationals on April 14. Even worse, the Pirates have scored only 10 runs in Keller’s five quality starts.
The Pirates are only 9-9 when their starting pitcher goes six innings or more but 3-17 when they throw fewer than six innings.
No wonder Keller, when explaining how he deals with a losing streak as a starting pitcher, strssed the need to stay even-keeled despite the outcome.
“This game, you can’t turn it into a roller coaster, that’s for sure,” Keller said. “You can’t get too low, can’t get too high. That’s just the mentality going through. You’ve got to ride the wave a little bit. We’re obviously not where we wanted to be at this point. There’s not one person in here that’s happy about what’s going on, so I think we’re going to use that as motivation and drive for the rest of the year.”
2. Sound the alarm: The Pirates were trailing the Cardinals 3-0 when Keller exited the game after facing one batter in the seventh.
The possibility of a comeback, however, was non-existent.
Play-by-play announcer Greg Brown shared an alarming note: The Pirates hadn’t won a game in which they trailed after seven innings this season. They are 0-19 when trailing after seven, 0-22 when trailing after eight.
The Pirates don’t even have a winning record when they score first (10-11). They are 2-15 when their opponents score first. And they are 8-8 when scoring four or more runs but 4-18 when their opponents do.
3. Ready or not?: It’s inevitable that Bubba Chandler will draw comparisons to Paul Skenes, given that both are 22-year-old right-handers who can touch triple digits with their fastball.
That their Triple-A numbers are almost identical after seven starts at Triple-A Indianapolis only encourages unrealistic expectations for Chandler, a 6-foot-3, 218-pounder.
Baseball America said Chandler “is showing the best peak pitching projection in the minors” based on his performance this season and projects him as a potential sub-4.00 ERA in the majors.
Where Skenes had an 0.92 WHIP and 45 strikeouts against eight walks in 27 1/3 innings, Chandler’s is 0.93 with 41 strikeouts against 11 walks in 28 innings. Opponents hit .175 against Skenes and are batting .160 against Chandler. The biggest difference is that Skenes had a 0.99 ERA to Chandler’s 2.25.
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Those anticipating Chandler to make a mid-May major league debut like Skenes did last year might want to pump the brakes.
Chandler allowed three runs on five hits and four walks with five punchouts in 2 2/3 innings in a 4-3 loss to Columbus on Wednesday, surrendering a three-run homer.
The word on Chandler is that his fastball and changeup are MLB-ready, but his breaking pitches still need to be refined.
4. On the mend: Of the Pirates position players on the injured list who are making progress toward returning, shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa appears the closest.
Kiner-Falefa injured his left leg in a collision at the Los Angeles Dodgers and strained his right hamstring while compensating for the injury. He was placed on the 10-day IL retroactive to May 1, so he’s eligible to be activated on Sunday. Kiner-Falefa is expected to run the bases this weekend, which is the final hurdle for him to be cleared.
The Pirates certainly miss his bat, as Kiner-Falefa was hitting .280 in 30 games. Jared Triolo has started six games in Kiner-Falefa’s absence and is 1 for 17 with two walks, while Liover Peguero went 0 for 3 with a strikeout Wednesday.
Second baseman Nick Gonzales also has to run the bases before he’s ready for a rehabilitation assignment. First baseman Spencer Horwitz was transferred from Double-A Altoona to Indianapolis, where he’s 2 for 8 with a double and two strikeouts in two games.
5. Next up: If the Pirates decide to fire Shelton, bench coach Don Kelly is considered the obvious choice to replace him.
Kelly, 45, is a Mt. Lebanon and Point Park alum who played for the Pirates, Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins in a nine-year major league career and was the Houston Astros first base coach in 2019.
Another in-house candidate could be bullpen coach Miguel Perez, who has been with the organization since 2014. He started managing in the minors at the rookie level with Bristol in 2017, moved up to High-A Greensboro in 2019, Altoona in 2021 and spent the past three years at Indianapolis before joining the major league staff this season.