Somehow, the Pirates won four of their seven games last week. They took two of three against the Cincinnati Reds (despite scoring just five runs in those three games) and then split a four game series with the Milwaukee Brewers, when the bats finally woke up (they scored 18 runs in the series, finally breaking their 26-game streak of scoring fewer than five runs in a game). 

The Pirates took four out of seven against division opponents at home. For them, that is an exceptional week. However, I still have complaints. Per usual, those are centered around the lineup and the bullpen, the former of which sputtered in the Reds’ series, and the latter of which continues to suck throughout. 

Let us start with the lineup. As I mentioned earlier, they combined for five runs in three games against the Reds. Not only did they fail to plate runs, they accumulated a measly 20 hits in that span, nine of which came in their three-run offensive “explosion” in the series finale. 

As of today, the Pirates are last in runs per game (3.04), 27th in hits per game (7.41), 27th in batting average (.224), last in slugging percentage (.332), 23rd in on-base percentage (.305), and 29th in OPS (.637) in MLB. That is not a recipe for success, no matter how good your pitching is. 

Speaking of pitching, here is a catalog of the seven starts by Pirates’ pitchers last week:

• May 19th: Mitch Keller: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 5 K. Credited with a loss
• May 20th: Bailey Falter: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 K. Credited with a win
• May 21st: Andrew Heaney: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Credited with a win
• May 22nd: Mike Burrows’ first career start: 5 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Credited with a loss
• May 23rd: Paul Skenes: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. No decision
• May 24th: Mitch Keller: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 7 K. No decision
• May 25th: Bailey Falter: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 1 K. No decision

With the exception of Burrows’ start, the other six were, at a minimum, serviceable. No one gave up more than two earned runs. However, the final scores of those games told a different story in some cases:

• May 19th: Reds 7-1 Pirates
• May 20th: Pirates 1-0 Reds
• May 21st: Pirates 3-1 Reds
• May 22nd: Brewers 8-5 Pirates
• May 23rd: Pirates 6-5 Brewers in 10 innings
• May 24th: Pirates 2-1 Brewers
• May 25th: Brewers 6-5 Pirates

As you can see, what the starters did often was not reflected in the final score. In fact, the bullpen gave up 5 runs on Monday, 4 runs on Thursday, 4 runs (3 earned) on Friday, and 3 runs on Sunday. Giving up 16 runs in 7 games, especially considering the bullpen pitches less than half the game, is pathetic. 

Last week, the discussion was largely centered around the lack of run support for Paul Skenes. It is clear that the lineup and bullpen do not discriminate—every starter has problems. Prior to yesterday’s game, the run support for each starter (before Burrows replaced Mlodzinski in the rotation) was as follows:

• Paul Skenes: 1.9
• Mitch Keller: 1.6
• Andrew Heaney: 1.6
• Bailey Falter (prior to yesterday): 1.6
• Carmen Mlodzinski: 1.9

Combine the lack of run support with a pathetic bullpen, and good starts will often be put to waste. We saw that twice last week alone and have seen it numerous times this year. I am quite sick of it, and there is no excuse for it in year six of Ben Cherington’s tenure as the Pirates’ general manager. You simply cannot let him be in charge of another draft and trade deadline in this team’s front office—it is an organizational death sentence.