Despite 6-game skid, Pirates GM Ben Cherington believes playoff push is possible

That the Pittsburgh Pirates were riding a six-game losing streak into Sunday’s series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers did little to damper Ben Cherington’s belief that the postseason is a possibility.

The Pirates general manager said sitting 10 ½ games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and five games back in the wild card race entering Sunday “doesn’t at all” change their goals, despite winning only once in a six-game homestand against Arizona and San Diego before dropping their first two games at the Dodgers.

“We’re still focused on one thing, and that’s winning as many games as we can, making every effort to make every game count between now and September,” Cherington said on his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan. “We still believe it’s possible that we can push ourselves into October. We understand where we are in the standings. I believe this team is capable of going on a really good run still ahead of us, but we all know that talk is cheap. We’ve got to go do it.”

The Pirates are amid a gauntlet of a schedule against teams ahead of them in the standings. They play a three-game series at the Padres before returning home to play Seattle this weekend. The Pirates visit the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds before hosting the Chicago Cubs, then finishing the month at Cleveland.

“I really still believe we can do that, but we’ve made it harder for us the last week or so,” Cherington said. “No, the goals haven’t changed. To some extent, whatever the outcomes are, it’s important that the goals don’t change because as a team we want to be playing in games that matter in August and September. We want to be doing that in 2024, certainly, and we want to be doing that in future years, too. We’re not going to change our focus. That’s going to be the focus the rest of the way. We’ve just got to get back to playing better baseball.”

Cherington noted one of the players capable of playing better is shortstop Oneil Cruz, who has a team-best 24 doubles with 18 home runs and career-bests of 18 home runs and 59 RBIs but also has committed 22 errors, which is tied with Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz for the most in the major leagues.

Where Cherington said Cruz has “clearly taken a step forward as an offensive player” and “shown flashes of brilliance,” he acknowledged “there’s even another level in there for him” and said the Pirates will challenge Cruz to improve his defense.

“He knows and we know that he is capable of more defensively in order for the Pirates to win at the level we want to,” Cherington said. “We need a more steady performance defensively at short. He knows that. We know that. He’s so talented, he’s working so hard that we’re going to continue to challenge him. We believe in him. We believe in what he’s capable of doing.”

Cherington added that rookie right-handed pitcher Jared Jones is scheduled to make another start Wednesday for Triple-A Indianapolis in his rehabilitation assignment. After throwing 47 pitches in 2 2/3 innings in his first start, Jones is expected to have an increased pitch count.

“We’ll get through that and see how he recovers and make a decision from there,” Cherington said. “There’s two things you want to be sure of, especially with a young starting pitcher coming off rehab. One is that we want to get the pitch count at a point where you can comfortably put them in a major league game and it’s not going to put a massive burden on a bullpen. … Related, the second thing is realizing and remembering that the intensity of every pitch in a major league game is higher than at Triple-A. If a pitcher throws 70 pitches in a Triple-A game, 70 in a major league game are going to be harder.”

Cherington also compared the career arcs of Jones and top prospect Bubba Chandler, a 21-year-old right-hander who had six strikeouts in seven shutout innings in his Indianapolis debut. Where Jones was a 2020 second-round pick, Chandler was selected in the third round a year later. Both started their third full season in the minors at Double-A Altoona before being promoted to Triple-A that summer.

“What is the same is they’re both really athletic and very, very competitive on the mound. That shows up. You can see it when they’re pitching,” Cherington said. “These are two young pitchers who just enjoy being on the mound, staring down a hitter. Aside from the physical ability and the stuff and the velo and all of that, there is something to be said for that – guys who want to be on the mound and stare down a hitter and get him out. They both share that quality.”