When the Pirates made the switch to focus on OBP over power, one debate I was not looking forward to having was the classic “The Pirates are bad with runners in scoring position” argument. And it only took until the second series of the year for that to really break through.
There was no talk about runners in scoring position (RISP) the first four games of the year, when the Pirates started 4-0 on the season. You only heard it after their weekend against the Reds, and especially on Sunday, when they left 14 guys on base and lost by one run.