![Pittsburgh Pirates]()
Looks like the
good Grimace vibes are wearing off for the New York Mets. After an improbable surge back into the NL Wild Card picture, New York's perpetual little-brother MLB franchise is regressing to the mean with three straight losses, including an ugly 14-2 defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Paul Skenes and by proxy Livvy Dunne have pretty much been the only sources of hope Pirates fans can bank on this season. Every time the rookie flamethrower Skenes is on the mound, Pittsburgh has a shot to win. However, in Skenes' four prior starts, the Buccos had given him a combined eight runs in support of his quality outings.
The lid popped off on Friday night. Skenes did his typically stellar work, yielding four hits and two runs with eight Ks across seven innings. Pittsburgh's lineup has a .231 collective batting average in 2024, but at least for one night, it was
on to the tune of
seven home runs. The last was a sick grand slam that literally rendered PNC Park unable to celebrate in proper, apropos Fourth of July fashion.
https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1809394166658453772
https://twitter.com/Pirates/status/1809395556646809998
It was great to hear the broadcast team discuss the surreal situation. Perhaps the Pirates had a surplus stockpile of fireworks that they dished out for the Independence Day festivities, not anticipating that their team would pop off for seven dingers and 14 runs any time soon. As fate would have it, that's precisely what happened.
https://twitter.com/JomboyMedia/status/1809399936670134484
https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1809425100984213537
We're talking a once in nearly three quarters of a century type of eruption from the Buccos.
https://twitter.com/AlexJStumpf/status/1809588937716818002
Skenes must be pretty hyped since he got such awful run support in his more recent appearances. The pressing questions are, can the Pirates find a way to either acquire more bats for the stretch run to the playoffs, or can their current platoon of batsmen figure out how to hit better than .231? If the answer is "yes" to either of those, perhaps Pittsburgh can make a push for a Wild Card berth.
Alas, as Colin Cowherd observed, it doesn't feel like the Pirates have enough talent to reverse what's becoming a self-evident poor hitting trend across Major League Baseball.
https://twitter.com/colincowherd/status/1809234690110353607
What's happening? Didn't they just get
rid of the defensive shift to make it easier on hitters?
Feed me every advanced stat and sabermetric you want. If MLB's league-wide batting average is even in earshot of the Mendoza Line, I'm less inclined to tune in. You know, unless Paul Skenes is pitching.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1809403192582570415
https://twitter.com/Pirates/status/1809380982094721282
https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1809568462764642467
