I’m not sure the phrase “swept by the Oakland A’s” really needs much contextualizing, but let’s do that from a Pittsburgh Pirates’ perspective as they return home from a brutal California swing.

Not only did the Pirates lose three in a row against the vagabond franchise from Oakland, but they did so scoring just three runs in three games. The trio of Oakland starting pitchers the Bucco batters faced were Joe Boyle (7.06), Alex Wood (6.59) and Ross Stripling (4.98). Those numbers were the ERAs those pitchers were sporting when they took the mound against the Pirates for their given starts.

During the series, the Pirates left 20 runners on base and were a collective 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position. If they would have managed to get a few more runners on base in the first place, you could bet those stats would have looked even worse.

The sweep in Oakland against an A’s team that had collected only 12 wins coming into the series was the cherry on the sundae of what ended up being a horrible end to April that bled into the start of May.

The Pirates woke up in Philadelphia on April 15 at 11-5. Since that game on Tax Day against the Phillies, the Buccos have gone 3-13 and have fallen into last place in the National League Central at 14-18.

Death. Taxes. And the Pirates ruining a good April start.

Over the course of those 16 games, the Pirates have plated just 31 runs for an average of 1.93 runs per contest. The club’s run differential is minus-41 for that span. The Pirates rank:

• 23rd in team batting average (.227)

• 26th in team OPS (.646)

• 24th in runs scored (118)

• 26th in batting average with runners on base (.224)

• 26th in batting average with runners in scoring position (.205)

Perhaps most disturbing among those numbers is that the Pirates have the eighth most at-bats with runners in scoring position (273).

Yes, for all those April showers we saw here in Pittsburgh, don’t expect any May flowers. If any do pop up, they’ll likely be stranded at second base.

Then, there is the frequency with which the batting order strikes out. With 300 total Ks so far this year — only five teams have more in MLB — the Pirates have only 24 home runs (26th in baseball). So the Bucs may be swinging for the fences, but they rarely clear them.

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On an individual level, the numbers aren’t much better. In fact, some of them are even uglier. Of players with at least 40 at-bats, Connor Joe is the leading hitter on the team with a .283 batting average and an OPS of .890.

No one else with that many at-bats is hitting over .265 or has an OPS better than .745. Six regular batters — Jared Triolo, Edward Olivares, Rowdy Tellez, Andrew McCutchen, Jack Suwinski and Henry Davis — are all hitting under .220.

The last three names on that list are all between .165 and .188. McCutchen, specifically, has 80 at-bats, 30 strikeouts and 15 hits.

It’s not just those players performing poorly. The most important players in the lineup aren’t producing much, either.

In his past six games, Bryan Reynolds has seen his average dip from .270 to .248 with just two RBIs along the way.

Ke’Bryan Hayes has only one home run and 10 RBIs on the season. Oneil Cruz is only getting on base at a .288 percentage, hasn’t homered since April 13 and has 46 strikeouts. That is tied with Cincinnati’s Will Benson for the second highest total in all of MLB.

What should the Pirates do about it?

You play the Colorado Rockies. That’s what you do about it.

Thankfully, they are in town for three games this weekend. The Rocks’ pitchers have allowed 178 earned runs. That’s 22 more than any other staff in baseball. The staff’s collective WHIP of 1.61 is also 30th in MLB.

So it’s the Pirates’ immovable lineup versus Colorado’s extremely resistible pitching staff. As they say in sports, “something has to give.”

In this case, my guess is it’ll be … the attendance.

Then again, Saturday features a “Mitch Keller Jedi bobblehead” giveaway for a Star Wars-themed “May the 4th Be With You” game at PNC Park.

What are the odds that’ll get a few people in the seats?

“Help us, Paul Skenes, you’re our only hope!”

Now that I mention it, Skenes was a .365 hitter at Air Force before he transferred to LSU. Can the Pirates call him up as a hitter before he pitches? Bat him clean-up at this point.

Listen: Tim Benz and RotoWire’s Jeff Erickson talk fantasy baseball and football in this week’s Gerger Construction fantasy sports podcast.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.