The Pirates suffered a blowout loss to the Marlins last night. Paul Maholm didn't keep the ball down as well as he usually does, and as a result he gave up three homers (to Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla and Jeremy Hermida) and recorded only eight groundball outs, though he didn't walk anyone. The Pirates then brought in Marty McLeary to pitch the seventh, and he allowed two more runs on another homer by Uggla. Jonah Bayliss pitched the eighth and ninth with the game already out of hand, and he continued to struggle, allowing three walks in two innings. The Marlins stole three bases against the Bucs, although at least some of that was because the pitchers weren't holding runners on well, and not so much because of catcher Ryan Doumit.
On offense, the Pirates made another bad pitcher - Sergio Mitre this time - look good. Adam LaRoche had two more hits to raise his average to .179. LaRoche's double was the only extra-base hit the Pirates had all night, though, and they didn't walk once. Mitre kept the Bucs on the ground all night, recording 16 groundball outs compared to just three in the air.
Overall, this wasn't nearly as embarrassing as some of the other losses the Pirates have had this year, but it was still the sort of game where you look at what your team has and what the other team has and feel a little jealous, even if the Bucs did beat the Marlins on Monday. The Pirates have Chris Duffy, who is fast; the Marlins have Ramirez, who is fast and actually good. The Pirates have a starter who's supposed to be a groundball guy but who gives up three homers; the Marlins have a starter who's supposed to be a groundball guy and actually pitches like one, at least for today. (Not that I'd trade Maholm for Mitre, but still.) The Marlins can bench their best player (Miguel Cabrera) and still score nine runs; the Pirates have scored nine runs in a game once all season. And so on.