At one point during the Pirates' 6-1 loss to the Red Sox Sunday afternoon at PNC Park, Pirates radio broadcaster Greg Brown uttered a phrase to describe what the Pirates are going through currently.
"The Pirates just can't do anything right," Brown would tell his listeners.
Brown's statement includes a key word: Anything. The Pirates were sloppy in all phases of Sunday's game, and that sloppiness lead to a sixth-straight loss and a .500 record at 11-11 on this young season.
The box score will read two fielding errors, but in addition to having an offense searching for any answer available to them, the Pirates are wondering about the many physical and mental errors that plagued them in this series finale and in five games prior.
"It was a sloppy game. We didn’t play well," Derek Shelton said. "You can point out multiple things that we need to clean up. In certain situations, guys are trying to do a little too much. In certain situations, we just played sloppy."
From pitching to defense to hitting to base running, the Pirates did exactly what Brown and Shelton described in different ways.
Martin Perez, who has been sharp for the majority of this season, allowed a season-high four runs and walked a season-high four in a season-low four-plus innings of work.
"Today I was missing my spots too much," Perez said. "That’s one game where you have to go out there and compete when you don’t have your location. As a group, we have to turn the page. It was a bad week for us. We have to start on the right foot tomorrow."
But the real comedy of errors came from two fundamentally important aspects that the Pirates needed to have shored up with their offense still struggling. The two fielding errors were committed after Perez exited the game, and one -- a catcher's interference call on Joey Bart -- helped plate Boston's fifth run in the sixth inning:
Jarren Duran benefitted from Bart's blunder. He then took advantage of reliever Ryder Ryan's indifference on the mound and swiped second base with ease.
In the eighth inning, Duran drew a walk and stole second base. He reached third on what was described as a "disengagement violation" from Aroldis Chapman, who spun around for the pickoff attempt:
Duran scored a couple of pitches later on this error from Oneil Cruz:
"We have to be more consistent defensively," Shelton said. "We can’t give away outs. We gave away two outs in the eighth alone just on balls we didn’t catch. It’s something we definitely have to tighten up."
It was more than just about the pitching and defense.
The Pirates' questionable base running tactics forced them into outs twice at second base. In the fourth inning, Ke'Bryan Hayes tried to advance after Boston shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela's throw to first went wide. Pablo Reyes scooped the ball off of the carom and threw down to get Hayes in time for the first out of the inning.
Then, in the sixth and with the Pirates trailing 4-1, Jack Suwinski tried to stretch a single down the right-field line into an extra base, but Rob Refsnyder was able to corral the ball and throw Suwinski out. If Suwinski would have held up at first base, the Pirates would have had runners on the corners and one out for Andrew McCutchen.
"That’s just game-awareness," Shelton said. "Jack’s got to realize that ball is in front of him. He’s just trying to make something happen. He made a good swing. He’s trying to get to second. He’s just got to realize that, at that point, we’re down four, we need baserunners."
The Pirates' offense -- a topic saved in a broad sense for DK's forthcoming column -- mustered seven hits and missed on all three of their chances with runners in scoring position. The lone run came from Hayes' sacrifice fly in the first inning, which scored Connor Joe after he led off the frame with a double and reached third on a Bryan Reynolds ground out.
The Pirates have scored fewer than three runs in five games of this skid. But, as Joe would say, the Pirates aren't panicking over it.
"Yeah, you know what, I don't think we're too far off," Joe said. "I think when the team's in a little skid, things are magnified. When you don't get the big hit, there's more emphasis on that. So really, I don't feel like we're too far off and I don't feel like we're panicking. The confidence and belief in ourselves and within each other still stay consistent and true, which is a good sign for us."
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