Pirates' stagnant offense fails to build off Gonzales' early spark

Newly-recalled Nick Gonzales delivered with a two-run, go-ahead single in his first at-bat back in Pittsburgh Friday night. The hit, which came off the bat of a player that had been red-hot at the plate during a 30-game sample at Class AAA Indianapolis, looked as if it might spark the Pirates' offense in the way Derek Shelton hoped it might.

"He's been swinging the bat really well and talk about pushing your way to the big leagues," Shelton said prior to the team's game against the Cubs. "He's pushed his way to the big leagues with what he's done in Indianapolis and hopefully it provides us a little bit of a spark offensively."

Any spark the offense might have temporarily benefitted from after Gonzales' first-pitch, bases-loaded single was quickly extinguished, as the bats returned to their stagnant state in the Pirates' 7-2 loss to the Cubs at PNC Park. 

Following a two-run first in which they still stranded two baserunners, the Pirates collected five hits and left seven runners on base, including those in scoring position in the second, third, fifth and ninth innings. In total, they left nine runners on base and were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

In addition to following the ongoing theme of failing to capitalize with runners on base, the Pirates haven't been able to string runs together in multiple innings as of late. With this particular trend, the offense gets going for a brief time and then shuts down. On Monday, they scored all four of their runs in the third inning of a win against the Angels and then, two days later, all four of their runs were scored in the fifth inning of a 5-4 loss. 

"I think to some respect, you get energy from offense," Shelton said. "We got two runs early and then we've got to collectively grind through it." 

The Cubs on the other hand did what the Pirates failed to do, as they got an early spark, stumbled through a few innings and then began to capitalize on opportunities with timely hits. 

Cody Bellinger, who was the game's leading offensive catalyst with a 4-for-5 performance, sparked his team with a two-out solo home run in the first inning before his fifth-inning double with Nico Hoerner on first led to the tying run scoring on an Oneil Cruz relay throw that popped out of the glove of Yasmani Grandal at home: