ST. LOUIS – Make that seven in a row.
The Pirates’ early-season free fall only worsened in what felt like a pivotal series at Busch Stadium. A series win against a division rival with some injured hitters nearing a return could have been the desperately-needed boost the club needed. It was a chance to find their footing and maybe even dig in.
Instead, the losing streak continued. On Monday, Carmen Mlodzinski handed over the ball with a lead. The Pirates lost. On Tuesday, Paul Skenes didn’t allow a run until his 101st pitch. The Pirates lost. On Wednesday, Mitch Keller turned in a quality start, the third the Bucs' rotation has produced during the past turn through the starting five.
Again, the Pirates lost, this time 5-0. Keller was dinked and dunked for three runs over six-plus innings, the Cardinals tacked on some insurance late and St. Louis starter Sonny Gray held Pittsburgh to just two hits over seven innings.
The Pirates that entered the year with heightened expectations to firmly put their rebuilding phase behind them. Instead, at 12-26, they are off to their worst start in a 162-game season since 2006.
"I think just throwing the expectations on there does make it a little worse, obviously, but no one likes losing,” Keller said, his voice and the sound of showers the only thing audible in a subdued clubhouse.
As poor as the start to this season has been, it’s still just May 7. That can be interpreted as the season is still young and there is hope, or it’s way too early to call it a year.
"We just have to,” Derek Shelton answered when asked how the team can keep its head up. “We have to figure out a way to get through this."
A similar response was given by Keller, who along with Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes are the only players to be with the Pirates for the last six years. That trio also signed long-term contract extensions to help shepherd the young players the franchise has produced in recent years.
In recent days, that trio has voiced displeasure with how this season has started. When asked Sunday if the Pirates' offense could produce more, Reynolds said yes, and that he could be hitting more as well. On Tuesday, Hayes’ 500th hit was a go-ahead double, and while he didn’t completely discredit the personal achievement, his focus postgame was clear: “I just wanna win.”
To reiterate, this isn’t how this season was expected to go. Now they have to find a way out of the mess.
"It's just like a starting pitcher,” Keller said. “You can't get too high, you can't get too low. On the lows, with this game, you can't turn it into a roller coaster, that's for sure. You can't get too low, you can't get too high. I think that's the mentality going through. You just gotta ride the wave a little bit.
“We're obviously not where we want to be at this point. There's not one person in here that's happy about what's going on. I think we're gonna use that as motivation to drive us for the rest of the year."
Keller suggested that to do that, the team has to come together. Some things are out of their control, like bad bounces. What can be controlled is accountability.
"It's not like we're calling each other out, but we need to be more accountable on our side, in this clubhouse,” Keller said. “For me, I gotta execute better. I can't give up little base hits for runs. I gotta know the situation. There's just a lot of things here, internally, that we have to clean up."