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After pulling within a couple games of first place, the Pittsburgh Pirates are starting to trend in the wrong direction once again after putting together a 2-4 road trip to this point.
That can change as the Bucs head to San Diego for a three-game set beginning tonight.
Chad Kuhl (3-7, 4.92 ERA) gets the nod for the Pirates and he will be opposed by newly acquired Travis Wood, whom the Bucs are no strangers to.
The Pirates currently sit 4.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central race.
The opportunity is there for the Bucs to make up ground as after this series they host the Cincinnati Reds and the Padres at home. They then face the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays.
However the problem has been that the Pirates have not done well against bad teams this season.
They went just 1-5 against the San Francisco Giants and are currently just 1-6 vs. the Reds.
It is a must the rest of the way that the Bucs fare well against bad teams. It’s getting to the point of the season that winning series may not be enough. Sweeping bad teams is more like it. One thing they can’t do is lose a series to the Padres or Reds.
We will see how they fare tonight. If they don’t start beating bad team, maybe they shouldn’t be in the conversation for winning a division title to begin with.
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Trade Deadline looming
All has been quiet on the trade deadline front to this point for the Bucs.
It will be interesting to see if they try and swoop in early and make a deal this weekend or wait until Monday’s deadline to try and make moves.
Don’t expect anything big from Neal Huntington, but they could stand to add an outfielder, bolster the bullpen and look for rotation help. Of course if the Bucs struggle this weekend, they could become sellers real quick as well.
Needless to say, these three games against the Padres loom large in terms of what Huntington may or may not do at the deadline.
Huntington is addressing the need of adding another outfielder by calling up Jordan Luplow tonight.
A third-round pick in 2014, Luplow has put together a nice minor league season. He has posted a .338/.415/.592 line in 21 games at the Triple-A level.
This comes after posting a nice .287/.368/.535 line at Double-A Altoona this season. Luplow also leads all Pirates minor-league players with 21 homers on the season.
The Pirates don’t have to make a corresponding move until Friday, but it is a good possibility Steven Brault gets sent back to Indianapolis.
It also remains to be seen what Luplow’s role will be in the Pirates outfield with Gtregory Polanco on the DL or how long the Bucs plan to keep the youngster up on the MLB roster.
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