Pirates (23-44) Swept in Washington, Bell Bomb Game Winner

We’d like to see more efficiency from our starters.

I know, you all want answers from the coach as to why he keeps saying he needs more from his starters, then immediately sets forth pulling them early, well, unless of course they’ve given up 5 runs in the first inning, then they get 5 or 6.

I don’t expect full transparency from baseball executives, coaches, even players if I’m honest. But at some point what you say should at least make some sense.

Look, it wasn’t a great outing for Chase De Jong, 4 innings, 1 run and he worked to get through it, but his pitch count certainly wasn’t preventing him from giving the club another inning minimally.

So, whatever you want to think is going on, it sure would be cool if Derek Shelton would quit saying he wants more. He just won’t give anyone an opportunity to do so. It’s silly. It’s killing the pen. In no small way it’s brought about a 10 game losing streak.

Again, this team isn’t good, I’m under no illusions here, but let these guys show you what they can do or head into 2022 with the same damn questions.

The Pirates are off tomorrow.

News & Notes

• Injury Updates: Steven Brault is going to throw a bullpen session tomorrow. Looking to have him back maybe late July. Ji-Hwan Bae is out for 4-6 weeks with an MCL sprain. Nick Gonzales is cleared to resume baseball activities. Trevor Cahill is Lonnie Chisenhall for now.
• Josh Bell hit a 2 run homer off David Bednar in the 7th. He’s still a promising young pitcher, but he’s also clearly in a bad stretch. Kind of shocking so many hit a bad stretch all at once.
• Colin Moran pinch hit today, should mean he’s back in the lineup come Friday
• Ben Gamel has shown himself useful. I’d like to see him treated as OF number 2 until he proves he shouldn’t be. Yes, that means over Polanco.
• Jacob Stallings was a late substitution for Michael Perez as a pinch hitter and went 2 for 2.
• Bryan Reynolds was 2 for 4. Adam Frazier had an uncharacteristic 0 for 5. Those two have been THE offense all season. If either of them have an off game, it’s pretty much game over.
• I’m heading off on vacation on Friday, Craig Toth and Anthony DiFilippo will have you covered on the game stories. You might see me pop a story in here and there, but just in case you’re the worrying type, I didn’t die, probably.