Pirates' bats remain silent in shutout loss to Tigers

Derek Shelton became the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates partially because of his success as a hitting coach.

But if he has anything in mind to fix what’s wrong with the hitters currently under his command, he wasn’t ready to talk about them Tuesday night after the Pirates’ 4-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

The Pirates’ offensive numbers over the past 14 games are staggering in their futility.

Tigers pitchers Michael Lorenzen, Will Vest and Jose Cisnero kept the Pirates’ scoring chances at a minimum, allowing only five hits — four of them singles — and two walks while striking out 12. The loss marked the team’s 14th consecutive game with eight or fewer hits, the franchise’s longest such streak since at least 1902, according to AT&T SportsNet.

In four of the nine innings, two of the three outs came on strikeouts.

“(Lorenzen) did a good job,” Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “He commanded the fastball. He didn’t give us many opportunities, and we didn’t take very many aggressive swings.”

The next steps likely involve a deep dive into what’s gone wrong. Extended video review of players’ at-bats probably top the list. There surely will be detailed discussions about batters’ approach at the plate.

“We have to figure that out. I wish I had an answer to that,” Shelton said. “We have to continue to have better at-bats. Right now, we’re just not having very consistent at-bats. There’s not one thing you can say that opens it up. We have to take it upon ourselves to have more consistent at-bats, more competitive at-bats.”

Losers of 12 of 14, the Pirates have put many runners in scoring position during that stretch. A few opportunities arose again Tuesday at Comerica Park, but in most cases they quickly disappeared without anyone crossing home plate. Five batters were hitless in those situations, dropping the team’s RISP batting average to .134 (11 of 82) in the past 14 games.

Shut out three times in the past 10 games, twice in the past three, the Pirates (22-20) most recently displayed significant offense in the doubleheader sweep of the Washington Nationals on April 29, scoring 22 runs. Since then, they also have scored a total of 22 runs, but it took 14 games to get there (never more than four in any game).

It’s the fewest runs in a 14-game span in team history, according to AT&T SportsNet. The only semblance of offense in that time emerged Sunday in a 4-0 victory against the Baltimore Orioles.

Bryan Reynolds, who leads all Pirates regulars with a .286 batting average, struck out three times, twice looking. Worse, Reynolds is not hitting for power. He hit five home runs in the season’s first seven games, but none since the home opener April 7.

The game ended with Tucupita Marcano striking out looking. He protested the call and was ejected — even though it was the last out of the game.

Pirates starting pitcher Luis Ortiz left the game early — two batters into the fourth inning — after allowing seven hits and four walks among his 81 pitches.

“Fastball command was really inconsistent,” Shelton said. “When he tried to go away, he missed in. When he tried to go in, he missed away.”

It was suggested to Shelton that the velocity on Ortiz’s pitches was down from previous outings.

“He was trying to execute pitches. That’s where it really came from,” Shelton said. “With young players, sometimes when they’re inconsistent with their command, they take a little off to try to go after people.”

In his sixth major-league start, Ortiz was his own worst enemy, especially in the third inning when he couldn’t control the baseball whether throwing it to the plate or elsewhere.

With runners on the corners, Ortiz’s attempt to pick off Akil Baddoo bounced down the right-field line, scoring a run. Baddoo advanced to third and scored on a wild pitch.

Ortiz already was in a hole after the Tigers (19-21) scored twice in the first inning. Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson doubled before and after Javier Baez’s RBI single.

“My plan was to attack hitters. Nothing went the way I wanted to,” he said through translator Stephen Morales. “When I have trouble locating, I just have to go pitch by pitch, forget about the last pitch and focus on the next pitch. (Tuesday) was a tough day to do that. I wasn’t locating like I wanted to.

“I was flying open a little bit, stuff I can work on in the bullpen and be better the next outing. I feel pretty strong. When you fly open, you can’t have all the power behind your fastball.”