The Pittsburgh Pirates lost again. They were unable to scratch out a single run in Wednesday's contest and managed to score a total of four runs in what turned out to be a three-game sweep against their NL Central rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Pirates have now lost seven in a row and have lost ten of their last 11. They're now 12-26 on the year, good for the third-worst record in the majors. To make matters worse, former Pirates first baseman Rowdy Tellez rubbed salt in the wound with a big day for his new team, the Seattle Mariners.
Tellez drilled a huge three-run homer shortly after Pittsburgh's defeat, leading the Mariners on what ended up being a comeback victory for the Mariners.
Yes, the player Pirates fans couldn't stand for much of the 2024 campaign was a hero for one of MLB's best teams right now. That's how things are going in Pittsburgh.
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Awful Pirates day reaches new low thanks to Rowdy Tellez
It's almost poetic. On the same day the Pirates get swept because they couldn't score a run, a player often criticized by the Pirates fan base for his lack of production drilled a three-run homer.
Tellez's lone Pirates season had its ups and downs. He had some good moments, but his .691 OPS was below the league average, especially for a bat-first first baseman, and the Pirates somewhat inexplicably released him right before he could earn more money in incentives.
Tellez isn't lighting the world on fire in Seattle, but he's certainly been better than Pittsburgh's first basemen have. Tellez entered Wednesday's action with a 95 WRC+, slightly below the league average, but better than Pirates first basemen, who have a 71 WRC+. He just launched his fifth home run of the year, two more than all Pirates first basemen have been able to hit. He has now driven in 18 runs, six more than Pirates first basemen.
Pirates first basemen have done relatively nothing, and the team as a whole is second-to-last in the majors in runs scored. This team is an absolute mess, and knowing that Tellez would've actually made them substantially better, somehow, highlights how bad things have gotten.