This was a series to forget for the Pirates as they were pretty soundly outplayed by the Tigers, but there are worse things than starting a season 5-5, so I am not ready to sound the panic alarm just yet.
I know it’s really easy to react to only the most recent thing you’ve seen in sports, but it’s important to remember that the team has played 10 games of 162, so there is plenty of time to fix some of the issues and get back to playing the brand of baseball the Pirates are capable of. You can label me an apologist, but you can be critical without thinking the sky is falling. Baseball isn’t cut and dry, just because a team played a bad series, doesn’t mean they are a bad team. I think the Pirates have earned the benefit of the doubt that they will be able to turn things around.
People will point at the runners in scoring position numbers, but honestly that isn’t that concerning. That is a stat that will normalize over a long season, but the early bullpen struggles is a bit of a red flag as most expected the bullpen to be a huge area of strength. Once again, struggles will happen over the course of 162 games, so I’d be pretty surprised if the bullpen was this bad the entire season, but something must change because the team cannot survive with poor middle relief.
The Pirates will not have time to stew on this series as they ready for a weekend set against the rebuilding Milwaukee Brewers starting when Jeff (0-0, 1.50ERA) takes on Jimmy Nelson (1-1, 2.70ERA) Friday at 7:05pm.
Series Result: Pirates lose 3-1
2016 win/loss record: 5-5
2016 series record: 1-2
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