Pirates bats go down meekly in 4-3 loss to Cardinals

No one in the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse Tuesday night was willing to say the season has reached a critical point.

But Clint Hurdle came close after the 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in front of a crowd of 15,778 at PNC Park. It was the Pirates’ third in a row by one run but the ninth overall in 11 games since the All-Star break.

“I’ve been in the game too long to say, ‘Wow, I didn’t see that coming,’ “ the Pirates manager said. “You’re going to have highs. You’re going to have some lows. Recovery time is what’s critical.

“Recovery time is what makes teams elite. What makes teams better than average. Recovery time is what makes teams average and sometimes below average. What I’m looking for is the punchback.”

It’s taking the Pirates too long to recover. They were not up to matching the Cardinals, who have won nine of 11 and are making a run at first place in the National League Central.

Meanwhile, the Pirates (46-54) fell into last place in the division behind the Cincinnati Reds, who have needed to be only average (5-6) to climb out of the basement.

The Pirates’ bats all but disappeared after Starling Marte’s three-run homer in the first inning. It was his fifth homer since the break, but no one followed his lead.

The Pirates had only five other hits, scored nothing after loading the bases with no out and Josh Bell at bat in the fifth inning and allowed Cardinals pitchers to retire the last 14 batters.

“It’s an opportunity to do something special and significant, and it got away from us,” Hurdle said of the fifth inning when Bell struck out and Colin Moran grounded into a double play. “We’ve had a little bit of that going in here in the second half, more so than we had maybe all the way back to April.

“It’s guys you’d want up at the plate, guys who have produced. The effort is there. The execution of the at-bat is something that’s gotten away from us a little bit.”

The answer?

“Committing to a plan, being steadfast with a plan,” Hurdle said. “We’ve done it. We continue to do it to get on base to load them up and put ourselves in those situations. We’re not finishing things off.”

Among the worst offenders is Bell, who doubled for the second night in a row but struck out twice and is 6 for 36 (.167) and without a homer since participating in the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game two weeks ago.

Losing pitcher Chris Archer (3-7, 5-40 ERA) was asked if the team has reached a point of no return. In other words, is there still hope — and time — to recover, 100 games into the season?

“I don’t think there’s ever a point of no return,” he said. “Things can change suddenly. You can get hot and win 10 straight and change the whole outcome of what happens next. But it starts (Wednesday).”

Marte said, “We’re not worried about (the hitting slump) because we know how good we are. Tomorrow is another opportunity. Too many games left.”

Added Moran, “We are in one of those ruts right now. I think we can get out of it any day.”

Finally Archer, “I believe in our offense.”

Archer pitched just poorly enough to lose a close game. He lasted six innings for the third consecutive start and struck out six with only two walks. But he gave up home runs to Paul Goldschmidt, a two-run shot, and Jose Martinez. Back-to-back doubles by Paul DeJong and Kolten Wong scored another run.

“Mislocated fastball to Goldy and a slider to Martinez,” Hurdle said. “He’s pitched better, but he competed.”

Nonetheless, Archer’s total of home runs allowed in 18 starts jumped to 24.

“This sounds crazy,” Archer said, “but the pitches that the damage was done on were right where I wanted to throw it. Goldschmidt, he got to a good heater and twisted on it.

“It’s OK to give up a solo home run every now and then, but with people on base you have to bear down even more and make sure it’s not crooked numbers on the board.”

Martinez hit a slider, a pitch that Archer likes to throw.

“I left it a little up,” he said. “It wasn’t my worst slider of the day, but it wasn’t my best.

“Big guy (6-foot-7, 225 pounds) likes to get his arms extended, and he put it out there in the seats.”

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