The Pittsburgh Pirates just had a topsy-turvy ride during their previous two sets against the St. Louis Cardinals and the Seattle Mariners.

The Pirates entered the Seattle series at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on the heels of a six-game win streak, which included a three-game sweep of the Cardinals at home. All those victories versus St. Louis were shutouts. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, the team couldn't sustain its terrific form against the Mariners, who turned the tables on the Pirates. Pittsburgh lost the first game of the Mariners set to the tune of a 6-0 score, lost the second, 1-0, and the finale on Sunday, 1-0.

The short turnaround from shutting out the Cardinals in a sweep to getting the same treatment at the hands of the Mariners made the Pirates the only team in the history of the big leagues to go through a particular experience, according to OptaSTATS.

Via OptaSTATS: “The Pirates were shut out in all three games of their series against the Mariners after shutting out the Cardinals in all three games of their previous series. They are the first team in MLB history to have back-to-back series of 3+ games with a sweep of shutouts for and against, in either order.”

Pittsburgh has a night-and-day blend of hitting and pitching, which largely explains the wild nature of its previous two sets. On one hand, the Pirates have solid pitching. They are seventh in the big leagues overall with a 3.61 ERA and third with a 1.19 WHIP.

On the other hand, their hitting has simply been cold in the 2025 MLB season. Only the Kansas City Royals have scored fewer runs in this campaign than the Pirates, who are also 26th with a .231 batting average and 29th with a .644 OBP.

The Pirates, who are last in the National League Central division standings with a 38-53 record, will look to stop the bleeding when they pay the Royals a visit for a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, beginning this Monday. Pittsburgh closes out its schedule in the first half of the season with a series on the road versus the Minnesota Twins.

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