The Pittsburgh Pirates’ strong start to the season was bolstered by young talent coming up and offseason acquisitions making their lineup much more dangerous.
As the calendar creeps toward May, the Pirates now will need to see the entire group continue to progress as teams around majors start to adjust to their new look.
Veteran Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom found the right mix Thursday night at Globe Life Field to keep the Pirates lineup flummoxed. He fanned 10 batters and scattered five hits during his 52⁄3 innings to help the Rangers pick up a 6-1 win.
“It looked like vintage deGrom,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “He has been throwing the ball well. When he’s healthy, he’s hard to hit.”
The outing by deGrom allowed Texas (13-12) to win the series and prevented the Pirates, who fell to 6-6 on the road, from picking up consecutive victories for the first time since they beat the Cubs on April 10-11. Pittsburgh, which is on a six-game road swing, will head to Milwaukee on Friday night.
That will kick off a stretch of nine consecutive games against NL Central opponents for the Pirates (14-11).
Nick Gonzales had two hits for the Pirates, who failed to get any hits against the Rangers’ bullpen.
Pittsburgh pitcher Bubba Chandler struggled to clamp down on the Rangers. Chandler issued three walks, allowed seven hits and gave up six earned runs in four innings. Chandler finished with four strikeouts.
Kelly said he believes more experience will allow Chandler to build more consistency.
“I think it’s learning through opportunities and finding ways to grow through it,” Kelly said. “We saw him do it last year.”
In the third inning, Josh Jung started a rally for the Rangers with a two-out single to left. Evan Carter followed with an inside-the-park homer that gave Texas a lead it would never lose.
Josh Smith and Alejandro Osuna drew walks off Chandler to open the bottom of the fourth inning. One batter later, Joc Pederson singled to right, scoring Smith. Corey Seager followed with a three-run homer to right field to stretch Texas’ lead to 6-0.
“They have some good hitters at the top. They have good hitters throughout,” Kelly said.
Oneil Cruz provided the Pirates’ offense with its only bright spot. He hit a 415-foot home run to center in the top of the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-1. It was Cruz’s eighth home run of the season.
Pittsburgh’s attempt at a rally in the sixth inning was snuffed out by a nice defensive play by Jung.
He made a diving stop of a ground ball by Konnor Griffin with the bases loaded to prevent any runs from scoring. The Pirates loaded the bases after Ryan O’Hearn walked with two outs. Gonzales was hit by a pitch, moving O’Hearn to second. Spencer Horwitz then walked to load the bases.
“That ball sneaks down the line, we have a different ballgame,” Kelly said.