Pirates blanked by Phillies, drop 7th straight game

Saturday’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies was, in many ways, a near repeat of Friday night.

In the series opener, the Phillies jumped on the Pirates immediately, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning before adding two more in the second.

By the end of the first inning Saturday, Philadelphia had scored three runs on three hits, two more in the second and another in the bottom of the third.

Both games saw the Pirates’ starters yanked after short outings, with Bryse Wilson lasting just one inning Friday and Tyler Beede making it through three Saturday.

And so things went for the Pirates (47-79), who dropped Game 2 at Citizens Bank Park, 6-0, for their seventh consecutive loss.

“They’ve jumped on us early,” manager Derek Shelton said of the series thus far during the AT&T postgame show. “Our bullpen did a nice job again today — they did a nice job last night — it’s just that we gave up too many runs early.”

Granted, Friday evening at least featured some offensive action by the Pirates, with Bryan Reynolds, Rodolfo Castro and Ben Gamel hitting home runs.

The Pirates managed only six hits Saturday and struck out a dozen times. Greg Allen was the lone Pirate with multiple hits, going 2 for 3.

Beede, who has been thrust into the thankless position of spot starter since the Pirates dealt Jose Quintana to St. Louis shortly before the trade deadline in late July, has had a rough go since being plucked from the bullpen.

He has allowed at least four earned runs in three of his five starts dating to Aug. 3 and has failed to last longer than four innings.

Beede’s outing Saturday proved to be cut from that same cloth.

“I feel like I was more efficient as a (reliever) going two or three innings than I’ve been as a starter going three innings,” Beede said after the game. “It’s unfortunate, obviously. … Clearly, I haven’t been as efficient as I need to be as a starter.”

After hitting Philadelphia’s Rhys Hoskins in the first inning, Beede proceeded to give up three straight hits to Alec Bohm, Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto, the latter of whom cleared the bases with a three-run double to left field.

Up 3-0 after one inning, the Phillies added to their lead in the second, capitalizing on a pair of walks by Beede before Nick Castellanos led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run to center field.

Beede exited the game having allowed six earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts, three walks and a pair of hit batters.

The Pirates attempted to get something started in their half of the fifth, following back-to-back singles by Allen and Tucupita Marcano. But with two men aboard and no outs, Phillies starter Kyle Gibson got Tyler Heineman to fly out before striking out Kevin Newman and Reynolds.

Gibson went the distance for Philadelphia, blanking the Pirates over seven innings, striking out nine and throwing 103 pitches while earning the win.

If there was one positive for the Pirates, it was the performance of reliever Chase de Jong, who pitched three scoreless innings after succeeding Beede in the fourth inning.

De Jong allowed two hits while walking and striking out a pair, lowering his ERA to 2.01.

However, De Jong almost certainly will be unavailable Sunday afternoon, as the Pirates conclude their series in Philadelphia. The same could be said of Zach Thompson, who, in continuing with his new starter/reliever hybrid role, pitched five innings out of the bullpen in Friday’s loss to the Phillies.

“He’s been huge,” Shelton said of De Jong, “Every time he’s come in the game, he’s kept us in the game. Another nice outing by Chase — he’s continued to throw the ball about as well as anybody we have.”

Thus, there will likely be some pressure on Sunday’s starter, rookie Roansy Contreras, to go as deep as possible into the game.

However, it remains to be seen whether righty Robert Stephenson, claimed off waivers from the Colorado Rockies Saturday afternoon, will join the Pirates in time to be available for Sunday’s game, which begins at 1:35 p.m.