Shelton: Pirates 'need to get on track'

The Pirates’ 10-3 loss to the White Sox on Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field began a six-day stretch that will be equally packed with baseball and trade speculation.

A day after being no-hit by Lucas Giolito, Pittsburgh fell to 7-19 on the year as Chicago’s powerful lineup pounded three homers and put up eight runs in starter Trevor Williams’ six innings on the mound. White Sox lefty Dallas Keuchel gave up a hit on his first pitch to Cole Tucker but limited the Bucs to two runs over six innings.

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“We’re just trying to keep it rolling and pressing on like we have been. It’s easy to get down,” said Tucker, who had two of the Pirates’ six hits. “It’s easy to be frustrated, but we know that we have a lot of baseball ahead of us, and we’re just going to try to stay positive and optimistic to do that.”

Now the Pirates will board a plane bound for St. Louis, where they will play a doubleheader against the Cardinals on Thursday to make up for their previously postponed games. The Bucs will then immediately fly to Milwaukee for a four-game series against the Brewers beginning on Friday night.

So yes, Wednesday was the start of a sprint through four games in three cities in three days. And the final game of the road trip will take place on Aug. 31, better known around baseball as Trade Deadline Day. The Pirates are widely expected to be sellers in the days and hours leading up to 4 p.m. ET on Monday, so the roster could look different by the time they return home.

“We all have Twitter, so we know what goes on. I really enjoy coming to work, coming to the field and working out with everyone in that room,” Tucker said. “If we add anyone to that room, I’ll be excited about it. But I’ll be really bummed to see anybody go, to see myself go. I have no idea what’ll happen or what’ll go down. But we’re just trying to soak in and enjoy every moment we can. … Just trying to enjoy that and not getting freaked out about things you can’t control.”

Williams, whose name has already come up as a potential trade candidate, took a similar stance before the series began. For now the Pirates are more focused on figuring things out on the field than on the talks taking place in front offices throughout the league.

"I think we don't see it as much. Guys are doing a good job of staying off their phones as much as they can,” Williams said on Tuesday afternoon. “We're not going to be in the dark. If someone gets traded, they'll let us know. It's one of those [situations] where we can't be worried about something that is out of our control."

Much like the Pirates collectively tipped their cap to Giolito for his performance on Tuesday night, Williams credited the White Sox for capitalizing on pitches he did execute on Wednesday, such as the slider Eloy Jiménez muscled out to right for a three-run homer in the fifth, and the one he regretted, a low fastball that Edwin Encarnación pulled out to left in the fourth.

“They've been playing great. They’ve been thumping the ball really good, too,” Williams said. “They’re a lineup that really feeds off each other.”

Aside from a three-game revival against the Brewers last weekend, the Pirates haven't been able to do the same. Their most important hitters continued to struggle on Wednesday, as Bryan Reynolds, Josh Bell and Gregory Polanco went a combined 0-for-10 with two walks and six strikeouts.

"We need to get on track. We have to keep getting them ABs and get them to find their swings,” manager Derek Shelton said. “We're in a situation where we're extremely inconsistent, and we have to keep working towards being consistent."

Tucker decided first thing Wednesday morning that he would swing at Keuchel’s first pitch “just because I wanted to get the bad juju off of us from last night.”

It worked, as he lined a single to center field, but he was left stranded on second base.

The Bucs went down quietly, with a bases-loaded single by Jacob Stallings and Erik González's homer in the eighth inning accounting for the entirety of their offensive output.

As a team, Pittsburgh has the Majors’ lowest OPS, and no team that’s played more than 20 games this season has scored fewer runs.

“I think we’re all frustrated to a certain level, but playing frustrated doesn’t help anything,” Stallings said. “I don’t know. Losing kind of exemplifies every negative aspect of what’s going on, so I mean, it manifests itself in a lot of ways, and it’s definitely hard to combat when you’re not having good results.”