Pittsburgh Review

By the time the 10th inning rolled around Wednesday, manager Derek Shelton’s only options left in his bullpen were Colin Holderman and Dennis Santana, the latter of whom was considered the multi-innings guy for the night. For the fourth time in eight days, it was Holderman who would be taking the loss for the Pirates.

This is an oversimplification of what was one of the more eventful nights on Pittsburgh's North Shore this season, but the end result was a third straight loss and fifth over six games, four of which have been decided by one run. A shaky start from Marco Gonzales and continued struggles from high-leverage relievers proved too much to overcome at PNC Park as the Pirates fell to the Padres in 10 innings, 9-8.

“We’re in every game,” Shelton said. “We’re battling. We’re battling back. We just haven’t been able to finish games, and we got to do that. To continue to do what we’ve done through the first 110 games, 120 games, whatever it is, we have to just continue to finish games. Unfortunately on this homestand so far, we have not. We’ve had leads in three of the losses in the seventh or later.”

The Pirates have now dropped back-to-back series against both Diamondbacks and Padres, teams ahead of them in the NL Wild Card chase. With a record now at 56-57, they dipped below .500 for the first time since before the All-Star break. While there is still time for a postseason run, consecutive series losses make their path more challenging.

Gonzales failed to complete five innings, allowing five runs over 4 2/3 frames including home runs by Jackson Merrill and Kyle Higashioka. Gonzales is still building back up after missing three months with a forearm strain; this marked his third outing in four games where a Pirates starter didn’t go at least five innings due to rain delays affecting Mitch Keller and Bailey Falter's starts.

"Physically I felt good,” Gonzales said. “Command-wise, I wasn't as sharp as I would've liked to be. I made a couple of mistakes over the middle of the plate and paid for it. Overall, I felt like we handled the top of the lineup well. It was the middle and bottom parts that hurt us tonight."

The Pirates' offense responded with six two-out RBIs including a game-tying home run by Andrew McCutchen in the fourth inning and a two-run single by McCutchen in sixth that gave them a 6-5 lead. McCutchen’s three RBIs tied him with Ralph Kiner (802) for sixth place on Pittsburgh's all-time list.

Despite these efforts, closer David Bednar snapped his streak of 19 straight saves by giving up a home run to Merrill which tied up game at six runs apiece.

“[Bednar] tried to get fastball above Jackson Merrill’s hands but he didn’t get it there; [Merrill] hit it out,” Shelton noted.

The Pirates missed opportunities with bases loaded situations both in ninth inning—where Ji Hwan Bae & Oneil Cruz grounded out—and again during tenth when Isiah Kiner-Falefa , Connor Joe & Yasmani Grandal couldn’t capitalize on walks off Tanner Scott leaving runners stranded.

Recurring themes persisted: relievers took Pittsburgh's last seven losses while team played most one-run games (19-21) yet remained sub-.500 therein; their blown saves tally reached second-most across MLB (23).

How does team proceed?

"Show up play tomorrow," Gonzales stated plainly."That's how we're wired...I know it's tough after some these losses but you have find way turn page show compete."

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