MIAMI -- Throughout Spring Training, the message in the Pirates¡¯ clubhouse was that they were going to have to win in the margins. Do the little things right, find a way to either score or prevent an extra run and win.
That did not happen in their opening series against the Marlins. They are leaving Miami with a 1-3 record after a 3-2 loss at loanDepot park Sunday, all three losses coming via walk-offs. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other team to be walked off in their first three losses of the season was the 1924 Pirates, so it¡¯s been over 100 years since a team started a season in this fashion.
¡°It's challenging,¡± manager Derek Shelton said. ¡°We've got some things to work on."
The three losses were remarkably similar. David Bednar took the loss twice, including on Sunday when he allowed an infield single to Derek Hill before Hill stole second, advanced on an Endy Rodr¨ªguez throwing error and scored on a wild pitch. Colin Holderman blew his second save of the season, allowing a game-tying home run to Griffin Conine on a 1-2 fastball.
"Lack of execution,¡± Shelton answered on the common thread in Holderman¡¯s early struggles. ¡°Him trying to go one place in the zone and didn't get it there."
Mix in other mistakes -- like Ji Hwan Bae being thrown out at third on Sunday trying to advance on a ball in the dirt in the eighth, the outfield defense earlier in the series and overall early struggles to cash in on the runners that are getting on base (and who have been stealing bases at a ridiculous clip) -- and those 50-50 coin flip games have not gone their way in March.
The prevailing opinion is that it¡¯s early -- just four games out of 162. And hey, those 1924 Pirates who also had their hearts broken the first three times via walkoffs went on to win 90 games, so a series isn¡¯t a death sentence.
But this was an example of losing in the margins.
¡°Lock it in and do the small things right,¡± Andrew McCutchen, who homered Sunday, said about what the message needs to be. ¡°I¡¯ll continue to knock on that because if you don¡¯t, this is the situation and this is what can happen. This is the outcome when you don¡¯t do the small things right. Execute when you need to execute, do the things that you need to do when you are hitting and we¡¯ll be fine. But when you don¡¯t do that, you end up 1-3.¡±
There¡¯s a level of justifiable frustration because the Pirates could have been 4-0, like they were last season when they swept the Marlins to open the season. Most of those games were tough grinds, but ones in which they prevailed. This time, whether it was defense, a miss-executed pitch or not coming up with a clutch hit late, the deciding mistakes usually came late.
¡°I think these losses that we¡¯ve had, it seems like the game is speeding up on us,¡± McCutchen said. ¡°So, obviously you have some mental mishaps and that happens in the game. It¡¯s just unfortunate that they are happening and you go to those moments and you go, ¡®That¡¯s why you lost.¡¯ I don¡¯t necessarily think that¡¯s why. It plays a part in it, but you just have to learn from those and address it now, so it¡¯s not happening for the course of the season.¡±
It, of course, needs to be addressed, but actions speak louder than words.
¡°You can do this all you want,¡± McCutchen said, doing a talking hand gesture. ¡°You can say little things all you want, but if you¡¯re not working on it, you¡¯re not going to do it. It¡¯s going to become a little tougher and a challenge for you to execute when you have to. So, it¡¯s understanding who you are individually as a player, knowing what your role is and executing. It¡¯s plain and simple.
¡°I said it before, it¡¯s what we have to do. It¡¯s what we have to do to win, we have to be mentally sound and we have to execute and that¡¯s plain and simple.¡±
At the end of the day, it¡¯s four games and one series. At this stage of the season, a shower-it-off mentality can be a friend.
"[Expletive] it, it's early,¡± Andrew Heaney said. ¡°You've just got to keep playing."