This past Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost 7-6 to the San Francisco Giants. The game featured top pitching prospect Paul Skenes allowing one run in six innings of work. It featured a grand slam from catcher Joey Bart. And yet, the Pirates found a way to lose.
There is no singular blame for this loss. Hunter Stratton allowed five runs in the eighth inning. The go-ahead run was scored off Aroldis Chapman, who for some reason didn’t come in to start the eighth inning. That decision points to the management decisions of Derek Shelton. There were also many instances where the Pirates didn’t execute.
One of those situations came early in the game from first baseman Rowdy Tellez. With one out, and Nick Gonzales on third base after a leadoff triple, Tellez struck out looking in the following at-bat.
Tellez faced six pitches, with only one in the zone. He swung at two pitches outside of the zone, but watched strike three go right down the middle of the plate. After the game, Tellez spoke to Jason Mackey, pointing out that he came to the Pirates to hit middle of the lineup, and highlighting his need to produce.
The comments from Tellez, mixed with that strikeout on the same day, had me thinking about what might be going wrong here.
