All right, the Pittsburgh Pirates CAN win on the road.
At least they did so against the Colorado Rockies. Two out of three, anyway. In quite good fashion I might add, especially considering the first-inning injury to Ross Ohlendorf on Wednesday that required more than eight innings of bullpen work.
The Pirates have been on a hot streak at the plate since the All-Star break, at least relative to themselves. Enough to get out of a 30-team cellar for offense, anyway. The Rockies, on the other hand, have been on a cold streak, losing eight of their previous nine.
Sometimes it is the luck of the draw, but the Pirates did take advantage of things. If only they could do so well in every road series.
The Pirates were not nearly as good earlier against the San Diego Padres, going 0-3 at PETCO Park. But the Padres, perhaps surprisingly, have the best record in the National League, meaning that they are now too high a hurdle for the Bucs to beat—at least on the road.
Last year, the Pirates actually won two out of three road games against San Diego—in April, at a time when the Bucs were actually 11-7. But San Diego has been a powerhouse team since about the middle of last year, and took back three out of four from the Pirates at PNC Park in the fall.
The Pirates’ results against the other Western division teams on the road are intermediate; 1-3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-2 against the San Francisco Giants, and 1-2 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Five of their 13 “Away” wins (just under 40%), have come against Western division teams. That compares to the fact that they’ll play only 16 out of 81 (less than 20%) such games.
Still, with a young team you will take any reason for optimism you can get.
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