Through their losing streak, Pirates Manager Derek Shelton said his team needed to catch a break and that they are playing hard.
He said on The Fan last week that his team wasn’t playing bad baseball and was putting in the effort to try to win games.
That is contrary to what some hosts on the fan and others have seen from the Pirates over the past two weeks.
“I understand that and everybody’s going to have their opinion on that,” said Shelton Tuesday during his weekly show. “In terms of if it affects an extra base or how its going, that’s when the effort comes into play in my mind.”
“Every ground ball, is it 100 percent down the line for everybody? No, not in the big leagues or anywhere,” added Shelton.
But, Shelton believes his team is putting in the effort.
“Our effort has not changed,” said Shelton. “We lost 11 one-run games since the [All-Star] break, we gotta figure out a way to be better.”
Shelton says privately there have been times when he has shown frustration, but isn’t going to do that publicly.
Joe Starkey also asked Shelton if he has thought about benching a player, using Oneil Cruz not hustling down to first base out of the batter’s box a couple weeks ago.
“I’m temped at times, I’ve done it before, not in the major leagues, but in the minor leagues with players and taking them out,” said Shelton. “Situations like that are addressed so, it’s not like just because you’re taking somebody out specifically . . . situations like that are addressed.”