Hurdle, Searage remain confident in starting pitchers

PITTSBURGH -- Pirates starting pitchers are a combined 3-8 through 18 games, and they haven't been as sharp as pitching coach Ray Searage would like.

"We are addressing some problems right now," Searage said. "Sometimes we're getting some hiccups, there is no doubt about that. We're not the sharpest that we can be, and that's going to take some time, but the [bullpen sessions] were addressed. We are having conversations on hitters and stuff and execution of pitches and what we have to do in order to be successful and be consistent. There's a lot of things that we're addressing."

Despite the early woes, Manager Clint Hurdle believes that his pitching staff will get the job done.

"I'm confident they are going to correct," Hurdle said. "It is a small sample size, because there's been volumes within the work that have been very clean and efficient. It's consistency, it's conviction with that intent to get the execution that we need. That's how we feel.

"Right now, it's not adjustments that need to be made other than get to the point where we're able to repeat our delivery, and we've got conviction with every pitch we've got."