SAN DIEGO — Luis Ortiz bought the bottom ball he sorely wanted, turned and fired to second base for what ought to have been the beginning of the double play, however Oneil Cruz couldn’t squeeze it. As an alternative of being nearly out of the jam, the bases have been now loaded, and the Padres would get an unearned run within the first inning on Tuesday on a Manny Machado sacrifice fly.
The play felt like a microcosm of what the final week and a half of Pirates baseball has been: so near the break they want, however falling simply quick. Name it dangerous luck, not executing, no matter. That error and unearned run would set the tempo for the Pirates’ ninth straight loss, this time a 3-0 defeat by the hands of the Padres at Petco Park.
“He dropped a double-play ball,” supervisor Derek Shelton mentioned. “He is bought to catch that ball. That is a routine play. Louie did a very good job. He was struggling early, he bought a floor ball and that is a ball that is bought to be caught.”
Cruz’s error was hardly the one Pirates miscue of the night time. Bryan De La Cruz’s bobble within the eighth ended up resulting in an enormous insurance coverage run, additionally unearned. Padres starter Michael King struck out 10, and the Pirates struck out 15 instances in all, marking the fifth time of their final 15 video games that they struck out for no less than half of their outs that night time. In addition they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring place, squandering possibilities and their 9 hits on the night time.
Whereas pitching was the priority in the beginning of the dropping streak, it’s the bats which have gone chilly of late, with Tuesday being the third time within the final 4 video games the offense has been held to at least one or zero runs.
“We have got to have higher at-bats,” Shelton mentioned. “We have got to have higher at-bats with runners in scoring place. … We had some alternatives. We had some alternatives final night time. We have simply not been capitalizing on them.”
It additionally wasted Ortiz’s bounce-back efficiency after being shaky his earlier three outings, together with his final day trip in opposition to the Padres on Thursday, when he was tagged early and allowed 4 runs. Pitching on common 4 days’ relaxation for the primary time as a starter this season, Ortiz wanted to lean on his sinker extra after strolling and plunking the primary two batters of the sport. He wound up handing over 5 sturdy innings of three-hit ball, with the one different run approaching a David Peralta solo shot to open the fifth.
“To not fall behind, for certain,” Ortiz mentioned, by way of interpreter and coach Stephen Morales, on what that first begin in opposition to the Padres taught him. “That is the most important factor. That and attacking the strike zone.”
These runs have been greater than sufficient for King, whose fastball was on level. As Shelton would level out, he threw the heavy sinker in to right-handers after which front-doored the pitch to left-handers. That stored the offense off stability earlier than the three-headed bullpen monster of Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Robert Suarez shut issues down.
“He executed pitches all through the entire thing,” Shelton mentioned. “As we talked about, even once we have been again to once we have been in Pittsburgh, you get into their bullpen and you are going to see electrical stuff, and we did.”
That left the Pirates with 9 losses in a row and a 56-63 report on the 12 months. They’ll have their rotation’s chief, Mitch Keller, on the mound on Wednesday, attempting to salvage one recreation from this highway journey to California.
Shelton’s message to his membership is identical because it was when the highway journey began.
“We have got to maintain going,” Shelton mentioned. “We’re in a troublesome stretch proper now. We’re taking part in good groups and we’re not taking part in adequate to win. And we simply must play higher.”
