The Pirates started their long, Noneil stretch in less-than-stellar fashion. A poor start from Roansy Contreras and some even poorer managing from Derek Shelton left them in an early hole and they dropped an 8-2 decision to Houston. Their record now stands at 6-5.
There’s less to be said about Contreras’ outing than there is about Shelton’s handling of the situation. Contreras had no command from the start, falling behind nearly every hitter. In the end, it took him 83 pitches to labor through three and a third innings, only 44 of them for strikes.
There was no stretch in which Contreras got things under control.