A couple of recent Pirates’ at-bats that occurred in key situations have generated a little attention in some quarters for what didn’t happen.
Specifically, the bat didn’t get swung.
On Thursday, with nobody out in the seventh inning, runners at the corners and the Pirates trailing 1-0, Dan Vogelbach chose not to offer at any of the five pitches he saw, three of which were called strikes.
On Saturday, with two out in the ninth and representing the tying run, Josh VanMeter watched six straight pitches go by and three of those were called strikes.
These had to be two of the worst at-bats all year on a team that churns out terrible at-bats like McDonald’s churns out french fries.