PITTSBURGH -- Saturday was an opportunity for both the Pirates and Mike Burrows to bounce back. For the Pirates, a chance to distance themselves from an ugly loss to the White Sox on Friday night, when they allowed 10 runs. For Burrows, to put the worst start of his young Major League career behind him.
Burrows did his part, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning before an awkward play at first base caked up his hand and got him out of rhythm. It didn’t matter much, as the Pirates’ bullpen surrendered eight runs en route to another lopsided loss at PNC Park to the White Sox, this time 10-4.
In his last outing before the All-Star break on July 12 in Minnesota, Burrows didn’t feel like he had his normal fastball command and allowed more runs (six) than he recorded outs (four). He had his fastball on Saturday, getting 10 called strikes with it while averaging 96 mph, almost a full tick above his season average.
It was smooth sailing until the fifth, when Burrows needed to be checked out on the mound after going to a knee trying to cover first base on a bouncer to second baseman Nick Gonzales. Burrows was fine, but his right hand got dirty and he got out of sync. The White Sox would strike for two runs and end his night by the end of the frame.
“I just had a lot of dirt on my hand,” Burrows said. “I was rushing a little bit after that, but I don't think that was what affected it. I think it was just me getting ahead of myself and kind of rushing through some things in my delivery."
Burrows struck out six against three hits and two walks.
The bullpen couldn’t protect a 4-2 lead, however, with Caleb Ferguson being lifted for Isaac Mattson after recording just one out. After Austin Slater tied the game with a base hit against Ferguson, Mike Tauchman came up with the bases loaded, and took an 0-2 hanging slider from Mattson into the gap for a bases-clearing double, giving the White Sox a 7-4 lead.
The White Sox tallied three more runs, two charged to Carmen Mlodzinski, but the damage had already been done by then.
“It's tough whenever you lose a game that you're ahead and you turn it over to the bullpen who has been so reliable all year,” interim manager Don Kelly said. “They're going to continue to be reliable. Those guys in the back end have done a great job, and I have full confidence in them to do that."
It was in that sixth inning when a sellout crowd began to voice its frustration, booing and chanting amid a six-run inning. The season has not gone as envisioned, but being outscored 20-5 by the White Sox in the first two games of the second half of the season -- and making the Pirates losers of 10 of the last 11 -- is one of the uglier stretches this team has gone through this year.
“It's frustrating for us, it's frustrating for the fans, it's frustrating for players,” Kelly said. “We can't do anything but continue to work hard, continue to show up every day, go out there, and do what we can do to get better every day. Continue to press. That's something that resonates with me every day to continue to push the staff and the players to do that and show up and go out and play as well as we can for the fans.
“Talking about Burrows, the tough start in Minnesota, going out there, doing as well as he did today, bouncing back, just looking forward to continuing to see stuff like that -- guys bouncing back. We had a tough two games and we gotta find a way to come out tomorrow and compete well and hopefully win the game."