Injuries to Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen add to Pirates' misery

Plenty of negative numbers have surfaced during the Pittsburgh Pirates’ eight-game losing streak.

• While falling from first place in the National League Central on Friday to fourth in only four days, the Pirates have scored two runs in the past 38 innings. That’s an average of one run every 57 outs.

• Carlos Santana, 37, who has appeared in 65 of the Pirates’ 72 games, is hitting .226 during the losing streak. His season-long batting average — .276 at the end of April — has fallen to .227.

• Jack Suwinski, the team leader with 15 home runs (no one else has more than nine), is 0 for his past 19 at-bats.

But those are just statistics that could creep in a positive direction as soon as Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park in the finale of the three-game series with the Chicago Cubs.

But the more significant bad news is tied to the team’s two best hitters in terms of batting average — Bryan Reynolds (.279) and Andrew McCutchen (.264) — who have grinded through recent injuries. They did not play Tuesday night in the 4-0 loss to the Cubs.

“He’s got some lower back tightness that he’s been dealing with for about a week,” manager Derek Shelton said of Reynolds. “We’ll evaluate that and see where he’s at.”

McCutchen has missed two of the past three games with a sore elbow, and he and Reynolds were not in the starting lineup Wednesday.

Shelton said Tuesday that it’s too early to determine if his designated hitter is headed to the injury list.

“If anybody has been paying attention,” McCutchen said, “it’s something I’ve been up and down with throughout the season. It’s precautionary. Just want to make sure that I can grind through it. I’ve been grinding. Trying to get through some of these games as much as I can.

“If I’m 70%, just trying to bring my 70% to the game. Also, want to be smart about some of the decisions. We’ll be day-to-day about it. Day-to-day and see where we are, if I’m in.

“If not, hopefully it’ll be the next day. I don’t think it’s going to be anything too crazy.”

McCutchen and Santana, two thoughtful veterans who have seen their share of losses in a combined 29 years in the majors, stood up after the game in the Pirates’ clubhouse, answering reporters’ questions and trying to make sense of the losing streak.

“It happens. It’s a long season,” Santana said. “We’ll work it out. Season is up and down.

“I try to talk to the younger guys and keep (them focused). We’ve had hard moments, but we’ll get there.”

McCutchen is trying to take positivity in the fact that the Pirates followed a 6-18 stretch in May with a six-game winning streak.

“We’re obviously in a bit of a funk right now. I hate to say it, we were here once before,” he said.

“We just have to let the game come to us, breathe a little bit and let the game just work itself out. You don’t feel like you have to do too much or do more. Just have to stay within yourself and trust the guy behind you and chip away.

“Most of these games we’ve lost, there was a point in time in the game where we’re one hit away, one big hit away, and it could have been a 50 mph bleeder.

“It just seems that’s not happening for us. Balls aren’t falling. We’re squaring them up, hitting them right at guys, not able to get that big hit. That can be a little frustrating because you feel like you’re doing everything you can, doing everything you can under your power to get something going. But just not going the way that we want to. So, just have to chip away and know we’ll get those 15 hoppers for singles, too, at some point.”

He said the only change he might recommend is a change in attitude for players who are trying too hard.

“When you get in these situations, sometimes you feel like you want to press, especially if you’re a younger team,” he said. “It’s up to me to keep the clubhouse light and not focus so much on the game itself. The game is already hard enough.

“You have to find ways to have some joy and figure it out.”

McCutchen also reminds everyone that the calendar says June and there are 90 games to play. The Pirates (34-38) are four games behind the Cincinnati Reds (39-35), who have won 10 in a row and climbed to the top of the division.

“We just have to tread,” he said. “We have to know where we are and understand that, yeah, we’re struggling, but understand that we’re still in a place and a position where we can have an opportunity to come back and get the division. It’s not out of reach.

“We also need to understand that we can’t just lose games, either. We need to take care of business, stay in this race and try to do our best to get ourselves out of it and give ourselves a chance.

“We have to turn it around and get going again.”