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The Pittsburgh Pirates might be the most inconsistent team in baseball this season. After Pittsburgh refused to allow a run in a three-game sweep over the Cardinals recently, the team then failed to score a run in a three-game sweep by Seattle. Now, the Bucs finally ended that pathetic 30-inning scoreless streak.
The Pirates finally did it on Monday, in a 9-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Tommy Pham blasted a two-run homer to get that awful monkey off the team's back, per the Associated Press.
Pham's homer came in the third inning of the game. It unfortunately wasn't enough to lift the team to a victory. Pittsburgh has lost four in a row, after winning six straight before that.
The Pirates have struggled for the entire season
The Pirates became the first team in MLB history to allow no runs in a three-game series, before turning right around to never score a run in the next series of at least three games. That is according to OPTA Stats.
Pittsburgh is dead last in the National League Central division this campaign. The Pirates have been sitting in that cellar for essentially the entire year. Following their loss on Monday, the Bucs are now 38-54 on the campaign.
Things are so bad in Pittsburgh that the manager didn't even last two full months of the season. Derek Shelton got fired in May, and was replaced by Don Kelly. Kelly has the team performing well at home, but the road has been a different story. All four of Pittsburgh's defeats in this four-game losing streak came away from PNC Park. This season, Pittsburgh is a woeful 12-33 on the road.
The Bucs pitching staff has done well enough to win. Ace Paul Skenes, who is headed to his second consecutive All-Star game, threw five innings of shutout baseball against the Mariners on Sunday. Pittsburgh lost 1-0 in that game, after Skenes got pulled and the bullpen allowed a run in the sixth.
The Pirates offense, though, has again been a different story. Pittsburgh is near the bottom of Major League Baseball in most offensive categories. This includes dead last among teams in home runs. The Pirates have just 62 homers on the year.
Pham is hitting better of late for the struggling Bucs. While he holds just a .238 batting average, he has lifted it since June 23. On that day, he was at just .216 on the season. Pham has posted five hits in his last four games, including that two-run moonshot on Monday. This is his first season in Pittsburgh.
The Pirates hope to snap the losing streak when they play Kansas City again on Tuesday.
