The offense has been pretty good early in games, but the bats have been silent late in games. The Pirates are averaging .56 runs a game in the first inning this year. They score .35 runs in the 2nd, .31 in the 3rd, .54 in the 4th, .48 in the 5th, and .54 in the 6th. Innings 7 through 9 have been the killer, they are scoring just .35 runs in the 7th and 8th, and only .15 in the 9th. They have scored 6 runs total in the 9th inning this year. You aren't going to win many close games when that's happening.
The Pirates have 10 comeback wins with their largest comeback being 3 runs, and they have blown 12 leads.
Home runs have been hard to come by for the Pirates for a long time now, and this year is no different. When the Pirates do get their home runs, it seems like the timing is never optimal. Let's take a closer look at that, here's a spreadsheet I through together that shows all the Pirates home runs, when they were hit, and how many runs they brought in:
You can see from that graphic that the majority of the Pirates home runs have been solo shots. 21 of the Pirates 36 dingers have been with the bases empty. Only 5 home runs have come with 2 or 3 runners on base.
The Pirates have not hit a home run in the 9th inning yet this year, but they have hit 5 in the 7th and 5 in the 8th inning.
If Pedro Alvarez comes off the DL and starts hitting for the power that he is capable of, we should see the Pirates home run numbers start looking a little better, but I still don't think the Pirates will be anywhere but near the bottom of the pack in home runs at the end of the year, and that is going to hold the offense down.