SAN DIEGO — The Pirates have been dealt one more blow amid their longest dropping streak of the season, discovering out they are going to be with out Marco Gonzales the remainder of the best way. Jake Woodford was capable of make one other robust spot begin in his place Monday, however the Pirates fell in need of the Padres at Petco Park, dropping 2-1.
The loss was their eighth in a row, the longest energetic streak within the Majors. 5 of these losses have been by only one run, and in Monday’s case, it got here right down to a Jackson Merrill dive with two outs within the ninth. If he missed Bryan Reynolds’ drive, it doubtless would have been a game-tying extra-base hit. As an alternative, Merrill made the seize.
“I believe in the event you have been portray up how the final 10 days have gone, that type of sums it up proper there,” mentioned supervisor Derek Shelton. “We simply need to make our personal break. Bryan has a not good at-bat there, swings out of the zone however squares the ball proper up. [Merrill] makes a heck of a catch, and that finally ends up being the distinction of the sport.”
The Pirates had alternatives with runners in scoring place within the sixth, seventh and eighth innings however couldn’t money in, stranding Oneil Cruz — who reached base thrice — twice. They squandered a top quality begin on a day the employees received unhealthy information.
Gonzales was one of many Pirates’ predominant beginning pitching acquisitions this winter, taking a wager that he was wholesome after being restricted to 10 begins final season with a left forearm pressure. He would find yourself struggling one other forearm pressure in mid-April, and after three months of relaxation and rehab, he returned to make 4 extra begins. Nevertheless, this harm and journey to the 60-day injured record will finish his common season, and maybe his Pirates profession, because it appears extremely doubtless the crew will decline his membership choice for 2025.
“It’s extraordinarily difficult and unlucky due to the truth that he did battle again and labored his butt off to get again,” Shelton mentioned earlier than the sport. “We simply have to see what we’re coping with and type of go from there.”
The Pirates felt good about their beginning pitching depth on the Commerce Deadline, which is why they have been prepared to deal a pair of their rotation choices: Martín Pérez to the Padres and Quinn Priester to the Pink Sox. With Gonzales completed for the yr, they don’t have a ton of choices in the meanwhile. Jared Jones goes to want at the least yet one more rehab begin, if not a number of. Prospect Mike Burrows has been streaky in his first outings in Triple-A since his Tommy John surgical procedure, and Braxton Ashcraft is on the injured record.
The cabinet is much more naked than it was a few weeks in the past. However at the least that they had Woodford reserve.
Woodford has been one of many few vibrant spots over the previous few weeks, going from a midseason Minor League free agent after being let go by the White Sox to the Pirates’ spot starter. Whereas he was removed from overpowering, he was capable of pitch off of his sinker and blend in his cutter and sweeper, the latter of which has been getting extra break and dive than it did earlier within the yr. That saved the Padres off the barrel, all the best way till the seventh, when Jurickson Profar led the inning off with a double. He would later rating the sport’s first run on a Xander Bogaerts single.
Bitter ending apart, it’s a begin any crew takes 10 occasions out of 10 in a pinch.
“Simply trusting myself,” Woodford mentioned. “I have been aggressive with it. I believe I’ve simply stayed inside myself and I have not tried to do an excessive amount of. At present, Joey [Bart] and I had a very good plan, and we caught to it. We have been cussed with it.”
Being a swingman isn’t simple. Woodford would have needed to pitch the eleventh at Dodger Stadium on Sunday if the sport had been prolonged, and as an alternative needed to begin the following day.
It’s an odd spot, however these are odd occasions.
“I’ve type of pitched in each position at this level of my profession,” Woodford mentioned. “You will have a routine, and you’ve got stuff that will get you prepared. It is getting ready a sure approach, however you do not dwell or die by it. You have to be fluid with conditions, particularly proper now. I am simply ready for no matter position they want me to take.”
