The Pittsburgh Pirates have not scored a run in their last 19 innings at the plate. You have to give credit to the dominant performances of the opposing starting pitchers (Rick Porcello and Jair Jurrjens), but it also is starting to look like the Pirates surge of offense last week may have been a fluke.
After collecting just 8 hits their last two games, the Pirates are batting .236 as a team, which is 14th in the National League. The pitching continues to be very good, with a staff ERA of 3.93 and now 7 straight starts without giving up more than 3 earned runs. I don't have the numbers, but the Pirates starting rotation has to be one of the better ones in the National League this year.
The plus side of tonight is that Charlie Morton was good again despite giving up 2 runs in his first 3 innings. He threw 50 pitches in those innings but settled down and made it through 7 innings giving up just those 2 runs. Unfortunately for Morton the offense couldn't get it going and he suffered his 2nd loss of the year. Good to see Morton battle through a rough start to an outing and keep his team in it.
The Pirates have another game with the Braves tomorrow at 12:35 before hitting the road Thursday and opening a series with the Cubs Friday.
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