Pittsburgh Pirates pitching gets annihilated again
By Bill Felber
Sunday’s 16-6 beatdown in Chicago was the 29th time this season the Pittsburgh Pirates staff has allowed 10 or more runs
The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 16-61 to the Chicago Cubs Sunday at Wrigley Field.
The outcome probably wasn’t much of a surprise. The Cubs are battling for a post-season berth while the Pirates are stuck in last place in the NL Central, about 20 games behind the division leaders.
To Pirates loyalists, however, the double-figure number of runs allowed is also becoming distressingly familiar. In Pittsburgh’s 150 starts, it was the 29th time the pitching staff allowed 10 runs or more, the third in succession, and the fifth time in the first two weeks of September. That’s nearly one-fifth of their games, and more than one-third of their defeats.
One day earlier, Chicago hitters hammered a succession of Pirates pitchers for 14 runs. The day before that, they lit up Steven Brault and a succession of relievers for 17 runs. The Pirates lost 10-7 to the Miami Marlins Sept. 5, and 10-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals Sept. 7.
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Friday’s 17-run allowance equaled the Pirate staff‘s low-water mark for the season, also achieved – if that’s the proper word – in a 17-4 defeat May 9 in St. Louis. Joe Musgrove took most of the hit in that game, allowing eight runs in three innings.
In their three-game series with the Cubs, the Pirates allowed 47 runs. That is easily a modern-era franchise record and it is also an all-time record since the Pirates became members of the National League in 1887..
In one sense, it should have been no surprise that it was the Cubs offense feasted so heartily on the Pirates pitchers. Sunday marked the sixth time this season that the Chicago offense has run up double-digit run totals against the Bucs. In addition to their three routs this weekend, the Cubs piled on 10 runs on April 8, 11 on July 4, and 10 more on July 13. All but the July 4 game were played at Wrigley Field.
But the Cubs have hardly had a monopoly on beating up on Pittsburgh. The division-leading St. Louis Cardinals have scored in double digits against the Pirates four times, the Brewers and Diamondbacks three times each.
In seven meetings with Arizona this season – six of them losses – the Pirates were out-scored 52-17.
To establish how truly wretched the above numbers are, some context would be useful. Here’s context. Through Saturday, the average number of times a major league team has allowed 10 runs or more in a single game was 13.5; that’s less than half the Pirates’ total.
The only teams even close to Pittsburgh’s 29 are three of their fellow occupants of last place: Colorado (25), Baltimore (25) and Seattle (23).
No team has allowed double digit runs in more games since the Rangers (30) and Orioles (29) both did so in 2000. The Pirates Sunday tied their franchise record of 29 set in 1897.
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If it’s any consolation, the Pittsburgh Pirates are not 0-28 in those double digit games. On June 23, the San Diego Padres tapped Brault and a half dozen relievers for 10 runs. But the Pirates walked off an 11-10 winner when Kevin Newman drew a bases loaded walk from Matt Wisler in the bottom of the 10th inning.