The Pittsburgh Pirates have been involved in a lot of sweeps lately.
Of their last seven series, six have been sweeps. The Pirates swept three opponents (all at home) and were swept three times, going 10-11 during that turbulent span.
Both of Pittsburgh’s series since the All-Star Break have been sweeps. After getting swept by the AL-worst Chicago White Sox over the weekend, the Pirates bounced back to sweep the AL-best Detroit Tigers this week.
According to MLB analyst Sarah Langs, that’s the first time since the 1980 San Diego Padres that a team was swept by an opponent with the worst record in its league and swept an opponent with the best record in its league in consecutive series of at least three games (min. 80 games into the season).
Pittsburgh went into the All-Star Break cold after going 1-8 on a road trip to end the first half, but a home series against one of the worst teams in baseball immediately following the break didn’t help. The White Sox, who were an AL-worst 32-65 coming out of the break, outscored the Pirates 27-7 in Chicago’s first sweep of the season.
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Pittsburgh appeared to be in trouble with another AL Central opponent coming to town, as the Tigers entered play on Monday with the best record in baseball (60-40).
The Pirates rebounded behind Paul Skenes, however, who outdueled Jack Flaherty in the series opener for his first win since May 28. Pittsburgh outslugged Detroit 8-5 in the middle game, then took the series finale 6-1 on Wednesday thanks to Spencer Horwitz’s first career grand slam.
The Pirates’ bats woke up a bit, scoring 17 runs against the Tigers’ vaunted pitching staff after managing just 23 runs in their previous 12 games combined. Their pitching also turned things around, yielding just six runs to one of the best lineups in baseball.
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Pittsburgh gets a day off on Thursday before hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks at PNC Park this weekend. Based on the Pirates’ whiplash performance during their rollercoaster summer, anything could happen.
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