Bucs searching for answers as freefall continues

PITTSBURGH -- When Felipe Vázquez departed Pittsburgh for Cleveland exactly a month ago to attend the All-Star Game, he left with his head held high. When the Pirates’ closer rejoined his teammates in Chicago to begin the second half four weeks ago, he said, “I couldn’t have been more positive.”

It was hard to feel anything but the opposite when Vazquez, accompanied by his usual introductory video and music, scaled the mound to pitch the ninth inning of the Pirates’ 8-3 loss to the Brewers at PNC Park. Making his second appearance since July 25, Vazquez struck out the side just to get some work in. He hasn’t had a save opportunity since July 16.

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Three outs later, the Pirates trudged out of the dugout with their fifth straight loss and their 21st in 25 games since the All-Star break. They are 48-66 on the season, 18 games below .500 for the first time since the final day of the 2011 season and better than only the Marlins among National League clubs. The last time they were any further south of the break-even point, John Russell was managing the team.

What’s gone wrong? Just about everything. Who’s to blame?

“Right now, I would say everybody’s losing. It’s not one guy,” Vazquez said. “Players, coaches, front office, everybody. All we can do is just stay positive.”

That was the consensus from the Pirates as they left their clubhouse for an off-day that couldn’t come at a better time than Thursday. They did not lead at any point in the series as they were swept at home by the Brewers. Even Trevor Williams’ streak of excellence against Milwaukee came to an abrupt end as he allowed six runs on eight hits, including two homers, over five innings in Wednesday’s series finale.

“A lot of us are searching right now. A lot of us are trying to keep our head above water,” Williams said. “It’s been a really tough stretch for us. We’re going to take the off-day tomorrow and try to get everything reset, and get to St. Louis and look to win a series there. We’re going to keep coming to the yard and try to get better every day to collectively help the team win.”

Since the All-Star break, the Pirates are batting .242 with a .687 OPS as a team. Their pitching staff owns a 5.45 ERA, and they’ve played sloppy defense while allowing 25 unearned runs in as many games.

If they were to continue losing at their post-break pace, they would finish with the worst second-half winning percentage in Major League history.

“Can it be challenging? Absolutely. But nobody’s going to feel sorry for you,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “At the end of the day, a lot of people don’t care. They just want results. So we need to play better.”

Before the game, they had reason to believe that Wednesday might be a respite from this nosedive from where they stood at the end of the first half -- 44-45 and 2 1/2 games out of first place in the NL Central. Williams thoroughly dominated the Brewers last season, shutting them out for 19 innings over three starts.

In fact, Williams entered the night having allowed only five runs in 32 2/3 career innings against Milwaukee. The Brewers matched that total by the third inning. Rookie Keston Hiura hit two homers, Ryan Braun tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly, and Eric Thames delivered a key two-run single with two outs in the third inning.

“Really, just a lot of my mistakes tonight were over the white part of the plate rather than missing off the plate,” Williams said. “Unfortunately for me, I missed.”

Meanwhile, with their rotation ravaged by injuries, the Brewers sent left-hander Drew Pomeranz to the mound to begin a bullpen game. Pomeranz allowed only one run -- on a Jacob Stallings home run -- in three innings. The Pirates scored twice more in the seventh on back-to-back RBI singles by Bryan Reynolds and Starling Marte.

“Losing obviously stinks and we’re not playing well as a group, but like Clint says, we all have something to play for,” Stallings said. “Each guy is different, but I don’t think you’re going to see any less effort. Hopefully you’ll see some better play. I don’t think the effort’s going to go anywhere.”

Before the game, Hurdle said part of his job was knowing when and how to react to a bad stretch without overreacting. Asked afterward how he’ll react to such a sustained skid, Hurdle advised reporters to “keep showing up and watching how the team responds.”

At some point, ideally starting Friday, they’d like to respond with Vazquez on the mound closing out wins on a regular basis -- not just getting his work in.

“I’ve just got to be ready. We’re not winning now,” Vazquez said. “We’re probably going to start winning games -- three, four, five in a row. We have to be ready and stay positive.”