PITTSBURGH -- For at least the next month and a half, the Pirates will analyze what went wrong this season and look for players they can count on next year and beyond. Their 2-0 loss to the Cubs on Saturday afternoon at PNC Park presented a little from Column A and a little from Column B.

The Pirates still haven’t overcome their season-long obstacle of batting with the bases loaded, despite a momentary reprieve during Friday’s game-winning rally, and they finished Saturday’s game 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position. But left-hander Steven Brault continued to solidify his standing as a legitimate starter while working seven strong innings.

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Brault’s performance was undoubtedly the highlight of the afternoon for Pittsburgh. The lefty, relegated to long relief to start the season, struck out a career-high eight batters and only allowed one run -- on a Kris Bryant homer -- over seven innings. Bryant’s solo shot was one of two hits allowed by Brault, who walked only one batter.

Brault got the job done Saturday the way he often has since taking a spot in Pittsburgh’s rotation in late May: by throwing strikes and almost nothing but fastballs. Of his 82 pitches, 57 were strikes and 71 were fastballs. That got the Cubs swinging early and often, which led to a number of quick innings.

“The important thing is being able to throw the fastball where I want to. When I can command the fastball, I want them to swing at it early,” Brault said. “We were able to do that today except Kris Bryant, which I threw right down the middle.”

In his last 10 starts, Brault has put together a 2.58 ERA. The 27-year-old has spent the last three years without a consistent role. In 2017, he bounced between the Majors and Triple-A. Last year, he was in and out of the bullpen. He was primarily a reliever earlier this season until the Pirates’ pitching injuries -- and a failed experiment with the opener strategy -- thrust him back into the rotation.

Brault has taken the opportunity and run with it. As the Pirates search for sure things in their 2020 rotation, Brault is starting to look more like one.

“We’ve talked about his opportunity as well, getting planted in the rotation and seeing what he can do with it,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “He looks like he’s taken advantage of every opportunity in a very positive way so far.”

Brault hasn’t made any seismic changes, he said -- “nothing that’s like a big, life-changing, ‘Oh, now I’m throwing right-handed’ kind of thing.” But a more consistent schedule has provided him with time to tweak his mechanics and fine-tune his approach the way he did as a successful starter in Triple-A.

The most noticeable improvement is Brault’s fastball command. Relying so heavily on one pitch can be risky if it’s not located well, but Brault is throwing it where he wants more often than not lately. Cubs manager Joe Maddon noted how effectively Brault used his four-seam fastball up in the zone, for instance.

“Brault has really reinvented himself,” Maddon said. “He's a great athlete.”

It seems like a representation of the Pirates’ overall nosedive that they’ve won only three of Brault’s last 10 starts despite how well he’s pitched. Pittsburgh has lost 26 of its 33 games since the All-Star break.

On Saturday, the blame rested with their bats.

Three times, the Pirates loaded the bases. Three times, they walked back to the dugout with no runs on the board. The Pirates are batting just .209/.270/.337 with the bases loaded this season, well below the Major League-average slash line of .274/.318/.474 entering the day.

According to STATS, the only other team in the last 45 years with six or more bases-loaded plate appearances in a shutout loss was the Mets on April 26, 1980 (also six). There are six instances of a shutouts with five or more bases-loaded plate appearances in that span, and the Pirates own each of the last three, per Stats (also Sept. 11, 2016 and Sept. 28, 2015).  

Kevin Newman reached on a leadoff single off Jon Lester in the first inning, then Starling Marte singled and Josh Bell walked with one out. Melky Cabrera lined out to Bryant at third base, then Colin Moran lined out to center field.

The Pirates wasted an even better opportunity in the fifth. Elias Diaz drew a leadoff walk, Erik Gonzalez reached second on Bryant’s errant throw, and Brault walked to load the bases with the top of the order coming up. Newman hit a ball to right field, but not far enough to bring in the runner from third. Bryan Reynolds went down looking at a questionable called third strike. Then Marte hit a fly ball to center, and Jason Heyward settled under it to help Lester escape the inning.

They finally chased Lester in the seventh inning, but their struggles with the bases loaded continued. Adam Frazier knocked a pinch-hit double to leff, and pinch-hitter Pablo Reyes worked a walk. With two outs, reliever Tyler Chatwood plunked Marte to bring up Bell. After falling behind, 0-2, Bell rolled a weak grounder to second base for the final out.

“At the end of the day, we were 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position,” Hurdle said. “We left 11 men on base. Then 0-for-6 with the bases loaded. Pretty much wraps up the story for today.”