The Pittsburgh Pirates endured another rough week, losing four of their six games against the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Pittsburgh Pirates were sitting atop the National League Central standings.
Now, following a stretch in which they have lost 14 of their last 19 games, the Bucs sit in fourth place in the division at 31-31, trailing the first place Milwaukee Brewers by six games.
This past week, the Pirates’ woes continued, losing four of their six games against playoff caliber opponents in the Cardinals and Dodgers. The Bucs were narrowly outscored, 8-6, in the series against St. Louis and 22-18 in the three game set with Los Angeles.
With that being said, lets jump into thing and take a look at some of the top storylines and performances from the week that was in Pirates baseball.
Pederson owns Musgrove, Pirates
Joc Pederson entered this week’s matchup with Joe Musgrove having had a bit of experience against the righty.
The two faced one another back in October when Musgrove was a member of the World Series champion Houston Astros. During the Fall Classic, Pederson blasted a pair of home runs against Musgrove.
Pederson had never faced Musgrove in the regular season prior to this week. Now, I’m guessing he wishes he could hit against him every week.
In his first at-bat Tuesday against the Pirates right hander, Pederson blasted a two-run home run to right field to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
#DODGERS 2-run dinger (4) at #PNCPark #JocPop #JocPederson 💙⚾️👍 pic.twitter.com/qw9hqlrR8B
— └A DODGERS LAKERS NEWS (@DodgersLakers) June 6, 2018
Aside from continuing his home run tear against Musgrove in game one of the series, Pederson again made in impact in game three after sitting out game two.
The 26-year-old outfielder, who is hitting .381 in his last seven games, went 3 for 5 in the third game of the set with a pair of home runs.
Taillon bouncing back?
While a number of Pirates pitchers had a week to forget, Jameson Taillon was a lone bright spot.
The right hander made two starts this past week, pitching eight shutout innings against the Cardinals last Friday and giving the Pirates five solid innings Thursday against the Dodgers.
Taillon did give up three runs on eight hits while throwing 92 pitches in five innings, but he gave the team a chance to win. He also struck out seven and managed to put one runner on base via the free pass.
In his last three starts, Taillon has allowed six runs in 19.1 innings. Considering he gave up six runs in his May 22 start alone, it seems as if Taillon is starting to figure things out again.
Meadows named NL Rookie of the Month
Austin Meadows hasn’t been a major leaguer for very long. However, he’s made his presence felt rather quickly.
Major League Baseball has recognized Meadows’ efforts in a short period of time as he was named National League Rookie of the Month for the month of May last weekend.
Meadows only played in half of the games during the month, but had a clear impact in those games, hitting .409 with four home runs and seven RBIs. The rookie also scored nine runs and stole three bases.
This week, Meadows cooled down a bit, hitting .250 (4 for 16) with a sole home run, a pair of walks and three strikeouts. His recent cold streak is expected given how great he was for the first few weeks of his major league career.
But if the first few weeks of his tenure in the big leagues is any indication of what he brings to the table, his recent woes may shortly become a thing of the past.
Dickerson continues to produce
A number of players endured struggles at the plate this past week.
Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco each hit .143 while Josh Bell hit an abysmal .053, picking up one hit in 19 at-bats through six games. Even Francisco Cervelli (.200) and Meadows (.250) had trouble at the dish.
Corey Dickerson, however, was one of the few Pirates players to serve as a bright spot at the plate this week. Dickerson, who is hitting .323 with five home runs and 32 RBIs this season, is batting .450 over his last five games.
Though he has only driven in one run over that span, Dickerson has posted three multi-hit games and has scored six runs, including four in a 3 for 4 performance against the Dodgers Wednesday.
While he has endured some offensive woes of his own this season, Dickerson has truly been the Pirates most consistent bat all year. And this past week, it was no different.
What’s next?
The Pirates begin a three game series today with the Chicago Cubs (35-24) at Wrigley Field. Chad Kuhl takes on Mike Montgomery in the opener.
Following the series in the Windy City, the Bucs travel to the west coast to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks (32-29), who are clinging to the lead in the National League West.
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