Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call: A Familiar Foe Strikes Again

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In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

The people that doubted the Pirates were for real during their good start are walking tall today. The Pirates cannot get out of their own way at the moment and yesterday’s game may have been the icing on the terrible cake. The team has had some really frustrating losses during this poor streak but yesterday’s was something else. 

Michael Wacha no-hit the Pirates for eight innings and when all was said and done, he hurled a complete game, two-hitter. Wacha had everything going and there was nothing the Pirates could do. The Pirates entered this stretch of play in pretty good shape as they were eight games over .500 and a half-game out of first place. Thanks to three straight series losses, they now sit at 30-29 and are 6.5 games out of first. 

The season is obviously far from over but this stretch of play completely negates their hot start in April. A 162 game schedule allows for a lot of ups and downs and the Pirates are certainly down right now. It isn’t a controversial opinion to think the Pirates will have a stretch of good baseball again but they had a really good opportunity to firmly established themselves as contenders and they failed miserably. 

Michael Wacha’s incredible performance was the main story, however, the game felt over before there was even a “No-Hitter” notification on MLB At-Bat. Marcell Ozuna clubbed a first-inning Grand Slam and pretty much killed any hope the Pirates had about splitting the four-game series. 

I love the game of baseball but no sport is more difficult to follow when your team isn’t playing well. The grueling schedules mean you never get a break from the onslaught of mediocrity. Thankfully, the Pirates have a much-needed day off today because they desperately need a chance to stop all this negative momentum. I hope the Pirates use this day off to help put them back on the winning path because right now, they are truly difficult to watch. 

During my years of following baseball, I’ve discovered only one fundamental truth and that is, you are never as bad as you look at your worst. The Pirates are probably not legitimate NL Central contenders, however, they are far from this bad. They are an average team that is mired in a funk. They will bounce back and stack some wins soon. 

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