Pittsburgh Pirates hit seven straight losses

The Pittsburgh Pirates got some good news and some bad news on Tuesday. The good news? NL MVP Andrew McCutchen returned to the lineup for the first time in weeks. The bad news? His presence wasn’t enough to stop the freefall currently consuming the Pirates and their playoff hopes. The team lost a seventh straight game on Tuesday against Atlanta Braves. It was their first seven game losing streak since September of 2012.

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“I was just missing my spots a lot,” Pirates starter Francisco Liriano said per Tribe-Live Sports. “It was one of those nights when anything you throw, they’re going to get hits.”

Unfortunately there have been many such nights in 2014 for Liriano, whose record fell to 3-10 on the season in an effort that saw him forfeit seven earned runs in four innings pitched. The Pirates fell 11-3 to Atlanta one night after having lost 7-3 to the Braves on the back of a six run first inning.

After standing neck and neck with the Cardinals and Brewers atop the NL Central for much of the season, the Pirates have plummeted to seven games behind division-leading Milwaukee with less than 30 games remaining on the team’s schedule.

Injuries and inconsistency on the mound have dogged this team for much of the MLB season, but now it appears to be too much for a Pirates team that opted to stand pat at the trade deadline instead of making a move for David Price or another ace on the trade market.