Pittsburgh Pirates Join Interesting Offensive History in Loss to Chicago Cubs

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now lost nine consecutive games and continue to struggle offensively, joining baseball history through their inability to hit on Wednesday.
Pittsburgh Pirates Join Interesting Offensive History in Loss to Chicago Cubs
Pittsburgh Pirates Join Interesting Offensive History in Loss to Chicago Cubs /
In this story:

The Pittsburgh Pirates have lost nine consecutive games after being beaten by the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, 8-3.

The feel-good Pirates, who led the National League Central for much of the first 70 games of the season, are now 34-39 and 5.0 games back in the division.

The Pirates offense has gone through significant offensive droughts this season and the team had just two hits again on Wednesday.

Through offensive futility, the Pirates are making baseball history.

Per ESPN Stats & Info:

The Pirates have now had more walks than hits for the 13th time in their first 73 games this season. That is the most such occurrences through 73 games since the Montreal Expos did so 14 times in 1970.

A look at the Pirates box score shows every player who played in the game hitting under .255 except one. It doesn't help that star Bryan Reynolds was out of the lineup, as he's the team's best offensive player.

Pittsburgh drew five walks in comparison to the two hits.

The Pirates will hope to turn things around on Thursday when they travel to Miami to take on the Marlins at loanDepot park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET as Mitch Keller pitches against Braxton Garrett.

Keller is 8-3 with a 3.62 ERA while Garrett is 3-2 with a 3.88 ERA.

The Marlins are a surprising team in their own right, currently sitting at 42-33 and in possession of the first wild card spot in the National League playoff race.

Follow Fastball on FanNation in social media

Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by LIKING us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

You can also subscribe to "The Payoff Pitch" podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.


Published
Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.