Pirates lose 5-1, drop series to Royals

The Royals got to Charlie Morton in a four-run seventh as the Pirates lost 5-1 Wednesday, losing their series and falling to 1-5 after the break.

The Pirates scored first in the third inning, as Jaff Decker walked, went to third on Gregory Polanco's double, and came home on Neil Walker's sacrifice fly. Morton gave up a line-drive homer to Eric Hosmer in the fourth to tie it, however.

And after that ... a friend stopped by, and I thought about the bottom half of the Pirates' lineup, and I wasn't too worried about missing most of the rest of it. Sure enough, the offense didn't do much, not managing an extra-base hit the rest of the way as old friend Edinson Volquez struck out eight over 7.2 innings. Morton held his own until the seventh, when the Royals scored four in an inning keyed by Mike Moustakas' three-run homer. Before that, there had been a squeeze play in which Omar Infante might or might not have touched home. The Pirates reviewed it and lost, but either way, Infante might have been called safe based on Chris Stewart blocking the plate.

In any case, the Pirates didn't do much after that, which isn't unexpected when you're essentially starting half a Triple-A lineup. They need help, and hopefully within this next week, they'll get it.