Pittsburgh Review

Luis Ortiz got the ground ball he sorely needed, turned and fired to second base for what should have been the start of a double play, but Oneil Cruz couldn’t squeeze it. Instead of being almost out of the jam, the bases were now loaded, and the Padres would get an unearned run in the first inning on Tuesday on a Manny Machado sacrifice fly.

The play felt like a microcosm of what the last week and a half of Pirates baseball has been: so close to the break they need, but falling just short. Call it bad luck or not executing; that error and unearned run set the pace for the Pirates’ ninth straight loss, this time a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Padres at Petco Park.

"He dropped a double-play ball,” manager Derek Shelton said. “He's got to catch that ball. That's a routine play. Louie did a good job. He was struggling early, he got a ground ball and that's a ball that's got to be caught."

Cruz’s error was hardly the only Pirates miscue of the night. Bryan De La Cruz’s bobble in the eighth ended up leading to a big insurance run, also unearned. Padres starter Michael King struck out 10, and the Pirates struck out 15 times in all, marking the fifth time in their last 15 games that they struck out for at least half of their outs that night. They also went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, squandering chances and their nine hits on the night.

While pitching was initially concerning at the start of their losing streak, it’s now their bats that have gone cold lately. Tuesday marked the third time in four games that their offense has been held to one or zero runs.

"We've got to have better at-bats,” Shelton said. “We've got to have better at-bats with runners in scoring position... We had some opportunities. We had some opportunities last night. We've just not been capitalizing on them."

Ortiz’s bounce-back performance was wasted after being shaky his previous three outings, including his last time out against the Padres on Thursday when he allowed four runs early. Pitching on regular four days' rest for the first time as a starter this season, Ortiz leaned more on his sinker after walking and plunking his first two batters of the game. He turned in five strong innings of three-hit ball, with only another run coming from David Peralta's solo shot to open the fifth.

"Not to fall behind, for sure,” Ortiz said via interpreter and coach Stephen Morales about what his first start against the Padres taught him. “That's the biggest thing. That and attacking the strike zone."

Those runs were more than enough for King whose fastball was effective throughout his outing. As Shelton pointed out, King threw heavy sinkers into right-handers and front-doored pitches to left-handers which kept Pittsburgh's offense off balance before Jason Adam, Tanner Scott, and Robert Suarez shut things down from San Diego's bullpen.

“He executed pitches throughout,” Shelton said. “As we talked about even back when we were in Pittsburgh; you get into their bullpen and you're going to see electric stuff.”

This loss leaves Pittsburgh with nine consecutive defeats and a 56-63 record on year-to-date standings as they prepare for Mitch Keller's start Wednesday hoping salvage one game from this road trip through California.

Shelton’s message remains consistent since beginning this road trip:

“We've got keep going,” Shelton stated plainly “We're tough stretch right now playing good teams not playing well enough win just have play better.”