(Photo by Matt Marton/USA Today Sports)

Coming out of the All Star Break, attended by Mitch Keller, David Bednar, and for reasons I will never understand, manager Derek Shelton, the Pirates stood at 41-49. 

We all remember the 20-8 start. We’ve all seen the collapse since then. As the season started back up again, an optimistic Pirates fan (if any could still possibly exist) could have hoped that a surge coming out of the break could propel the Pirates back towards .500, but, if the early results are any indication, it’s only going to get worse. 

Friday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants was the most classic game of the season, pointing out all of the problems that have plagued the Pirates since May. 

Failure to maintain leads, shotty bullpen work, horrible lineup decisions,, and of course, the catching position all contributed to the Pirates’ 6-4 loss at PNC Park. 

The Pirates held a 4-3 lead going into the top of the top of the 7th inning. Things were looking ok, and off the bat of primarily Ji Man Choi, the Pirates had some sort of offense, which has been absent for weeks at a time this season. 

Colin Holderman then proceeded to give up 3 runs to turn a 4-3 lead into a 6-4 deficit, earning himself and the team a loss in the process. 

Austin Hedges allowed two stolen bases and a passed ball, while at the plate struck out swinging both times up. Meanwhile Henry Davis, the first overall pick just two years ago who PLAYS CATCHER, spent another night buried in right field, going 2 for 3 at the plate. He did commit an error in the game, but still had a better night than Hedges. 

Almost comically, the very same night, fellow catching prospect Endy Rodríguez, who the Pirates have refused to call up despite Hedges and Jason Delay giving them every reason to, hit a grand slam in triple-A ball. 

Per Jason Mackey (who tweeted this before the game ended Friday night): “If the Pirates lose tonight: They will have twice as many losses (42) as wins (21) since their 20-8 start. In other words, they’re playing .333 ball (21-42) over two-plus months. From 2020-22, Pirates had a .370 winning percentage (142-242).”

That’s unacceptable, even if you are the Pirates. A team now four years into Ben Cherington’s rebuild cannot still, under any circumstances, continue to be this far behind the competition. 

But the writing has been on the wall for a while now. The Pirates’ collapse has shown no signs of slowing down. 

Had the Pirates called up the young Bucs like Henry Davis and Nick Gonzales when they were closer to the .500 mark, perhaps things would be a little different. Had the Pirates called up Endy Rodríguez, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. 

But not only did the Pirates drag and space out the calling up of Davis and Gonzales, they haven’t even called up Endy. 

Could he and the other young talent have magically fixed everything? No, and I am not claiming that they could. 

But watching Pirates games is like watching the same bad movie over and over again. Hedges, whose best stat the folks at PNC Park could find was “ranks fifth best among all MLB catchers in blocks above average” is still a mainstay in the lineup. 

That’s despite him batting a .176 average. That’s despite him being a -1.0 bWAR right now. That’s despite his performances garnering him getting booed at home games. 

But the catcher’s position is far from the only problem on this team. The bullpen has had its fair share of struggles as well. 

Colin Holderman has not looked like the same guy after coming back from injury. Dauri Moreta had a really bad stretch of a few weeks, souring some fan opinions of him. 

Roansy Contreras, who opened the season on the starting rotation, was moved to the bullpen after multiple bad starts depleted him of all his confidence. The bullpen didn’t help. He still regularly looked rattled on the mound, before the Pirates finally made the right choice to send him down. 

The Bucs’ bats, while currently being able to showcase some huts, have been absent way too many times this year. Early season successes like Ji Hwan Bae and Tucupita Marcano have fallen off, Bryan Reynolds’ has (so far) not lived up to the massive extension he got in the offseason.

April was a complete fluke. But the extreme regression we’ve watched since then are far worse than should be allowed for this team. With another loss, the Pirates sit at 41-50, 4th in the NL Central, and 8.5 games back for the division lead. 

The season gets more and more lost every day, and unless a miracle ascends down upon this sinking ship, O’Neil Cruz’s return in August won’t mean anything except us being lucky to watch him play baseball again.