The Pirates' season is rapidly becoming a bad joke, and their latest loss, a 15-5 blowout at the hands of the San Diego Padres, featured an offensive performance by Pedro Alvarez that was one of the worst in recent memory.
Alvarez grounded into double plays in his first three at-bats, robbing the Pirates of big innings in a game in which no one else seemed to have any problem getting on base. His double plays ended a very promising first inning, nearly stopped the third inning before it got started, and killed the Pirates' rally with the bases loaded in the fourth. (He also struck out and grounded out for an 0-for-5, making eight outs on the day.)
Meanwhile, the Padres kept piling up runs, blowing the game open in the fourth with a grand slam by Chase Headley off Jeff Karstens, who allowed nine runs. Kyle Blanks, Aaron Cunningham and Jesus Guzman also homered for the Padres.
The Pirates have lost eight straight games.
For more on the Bucs, check out Bucs Dugout. For more on the Padres, check out Gaslamp Ball.