It doesn’t get much worse than what the Pirates pitching staff did in the first inning against one of the historically worst teams in baseball.
The Oakland A’s scored seven runs in the top of the first, knocking starter Roansy Contreras out of the game after the he was only able to record one out, a strike out, facing nine batters.
Contreras gave up seven earned runs, six hits and walked two.
After only pitching 0.1 inning, Contreras was replaced with Rob Zastryzny, who proceeded to throw eight balls in a row, walking in two runs.
The Pirates finally got out of the top of the first, but it was a quick bottom with Bryan Reynolds bouncing into a double play after Andrew McCutchen walked. Connor Joe then popped out to end the first.
The A’s began the day 13-50 and are 28.5 games out of first place.
It’s a troubling trend with the A’s having to hand the Pirates the first game and Mitch Keller struggling unable to find the strike zone on Tuesday night in the A’s 11-2 win against the Pirates.
The A’s also ended a 15-game road losing streak with the in on Tuesday night.
And to make matters worse, the Pirate Parrot lost a standoff with A's players.