Pittsburgh Pirates Blown Out in Loss Number 100

Thursday night the Pittsburgh Pirates were blown out by the Chicago Cubs 9-0, suffering their 100th loss of the 2021 season

Mercifully for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the 2021 MLB regular season is nearly over. Throughout the season the Pirates have been one of the worst teams in baseball but their 2021 woes are close to an end.

Thursday night those woes continued in a 9-0 loss against the Chicago Cubs. By dropping the rubber match of the series the Pittsburgh Pirates suffered just their fourth series loss dating back to August 20th. This loss also handed the Pirates their 100th loss of the season, dropping to 59-100 on the season.

Miguel Yajure stuggles

This past offseason the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Jameson Taillon to the New York Yankees and acquired four players in the process. Two of the players acquired have become two of the top pitching prospects in the organization. One of these pitchers is Roansy Contreras who impressed in his MLB debut Wednesday night. The other pitcher acquired in the deal is fellow righty Miguel Yajure.

Yajure started for the Pirates Thursday night in what will be his final appearance of the 2021 season. While the future likely remains bright for Yajure, things did not go well for the young righty in the loss.

The first pitch of the game saw Yajure allow a home run Rafael Ortega to give the Cubs a quick 1-0 lead. While Yajure then got out of the 1st inning, things came unglued in the 2nd inning as he allowed 6 runs, including another home run. On the night Yajure allowed 7 runs on on 7 hits, 2 walks, 2 home runs allowed and just a single strikeout in 2 innings pitched.

Yajure will finish his first season in the Pirate organization with a 8.40 ERA, 8.49 FIP and a woeful 3.60 HR/9 in 15 innings pitched. Despite his struggles this season Yajure continues to be a rotation piece the Pirates will look to build around moving forward. Had he not suffered an injury at Triple-A in June, odds are, Yajure would have locked down a spot in the Pirate rotation this summer, especially following a pair of strong starts with the Pirates in his first two MLB appearances this season.

Even with his struggles this season it would not be a surprise to see Yajure as a member of the starting rotation on Opening Day 2022. He’s a young pitcher with plus stuff who will have every opportunity to find his groove in 2022.

Pirate offense gets shutdown

It was a long night at the ballpark for the Pirate offense. Cub pitching limited the Pirates to just 6 hits and 8 total base runners. While the Pirates did not have many scoring opportunities they did go 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in the loss, leaving 4 men on base.

The only Pirate batters to reach base more than once were Colin Moran who went 1-for-3 with a walk, and Kevin Newman who was 1-for-2 with a walk. Michael Chavis, Bryan Reynolds, and Jacob Stallings each picked up a single as well. Wilmer Difo also picked up a pinch hit single. The Pirates did not collect a single extra base hit in the loss.

No matter what a team’s pitching staff does this type of offensive performance is not one that will give you an opportunity to win a game.

Tanner Anderson picks up the Pirate pitching staff

Prior to the start of the game the Pirates purchased the contract of right-handed pitcher Tanner Anderson from Triple-A Indianapolis. Anderson returned to the Pirate organization earlier this summer after making his MLB debut with the Pirates in 2018.

With Derek Shelton and the Pirates in desperate need of innings Anderson gave them just that. Anderson allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, no walks and a strikeout in 5 innings pitched. That is a great outing for any long reliever, especially when their team was in desperate need of innings.

To be honest, Anderson was likely going to be left out there to pitch 4-5 innings no matter how effective or ineffective he was pitching. To his credit, he went out there, took the ball, and gave the Pittsburgh Pirates 5 strong innings of relief.

What’s next?

The Pittsburgh Pirates will kick off their final series of the season on Friday night. Wil Crowe (5.77 ERA, 5.91 FIP) is scheduled to start for the Pirates while the Cincinnati Reds plan to send righty Luis Castillo (4.05 ERA, 3.76 FIP) to the mound. First pitch from PNC Park is scheduled for 6:35 PM ET.