Pirates' 20-0 loss is worst in franchise's 124 years
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Milwaukee's Prince Fielder is greeted by on-deck batter Casey McGehee after hitting a solo home run in the second inning. -
Pittsburgh starter Daniel McCutchen gave up six runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.
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It gets no lower.
The Pirates broke the record for the worst loss in franchise history by getting blown out yet again by the Milwaukee Brewers, 20-0, this afternoon at PNC Park.
The previous mark for the 124-year-old franchise for the worst loss was by an 18-run margin, set twice: The first came a century ago, with an 18-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on July 11, 1910. The other was a 19-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on July 14, 1955.
The clubhouse was on edge afterward.
"Today was an embarrassment," reliever Brendan Donnelly said, snapping off every word. "We should all be embarrassed to have Major League Baseball uniforms on our back today. It was an atrocity. We set a record. We should all be embarrassed about it. That's how I feel."
Others elected to look ahead.
"I don't care about that," left fielder Lastings Milledge said of the record. "I don't care about making history. I care about winning games. All we need to do is win our next game, 1-0. And if we do that, people are still going to say we just got outscored, 36-1. It doesn't matter. We're still 7-8, and we're still having a good season. We had a bad series. We're still focused, still ready to play. And we're going to take it to somebody on the road, make somebody pay. That's our mentality, and that's what we're going to do."
Manager John Russell focused on the starting pitching, which has been by far the worst in baseball.
"It's embarrassing," Russell said of the result. "We've got to pitch better. That's the bottom line. We can't keep giving up that many runs that early and keep trying to fight back. We've got to get past the third or fourth inning. We just can't continue to cover that many innings out of our bullpen. We've just got to do a better job with our rotation."
Russell said the Pirates are discussing how to address their rotation, with Ross Ohlendorf on the 15-day disabled list and McCutchen a highly ineffective fifth starter.
First Published April 22, 2010 4:11 pm
