Pirates won't be competitive if they keep wasting starts from young aces

As bad as things have been for the Pittsburgh Pirates the past couple of years, they do have a chance to turn things around relatively quickly. The main reason is the emergence of rookie ace pitchers Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. When added to 2023 All-Star Mitch Keller, the Pirates have what could be one of the most formidable pitching rotations in the league. It's the type of rotation you can build a contender around.

As the Pirates showed this week against the San Francisco Giants, however, those starters can't do it all. 

With Thursday afternoon's 7-6 loss, it was the second game in a row the Pirates wasted a quality start from one of their young aces and let a late-inning, multiple-run lead slip away. 

It's actually even worse than that initial assessment.

Jones and Skenes pitched both games and combined to allow just four earned runs in 12 total innings. That would be a very respectable 3.00 ERA.

The Pirates also hit a grand slam in both games (Bryan Reynolds on Wednesday; Joey Bart on Thursday) and gave their bullpen big leads.

The bullpen proceeded to blow both teams, allowing six runs on Wednesday and six runs on Thursday. 

That is the type of thing that simply can't happen. 

It is also the type of thing that simply doesn't happen — at least historically.