It is impossible to win a game by a 0-0 score regardless no matter how strong the pitching. The Pirates are finding that out despite having the best earned run average in the major leagues at 3.35.
The Pirates were shut out for the second straight game Friday night as Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo and Francisco Cordero checked them on five hits in a 4-0 loss. The Pirates' losing streak reached a season-worst four games and dropped them to .500 at 11-11. Yovani Gallardo and Trevor Hoffman blanked the Pirates on two hits Wednesday in a 1-0 loss at Milwaukee. The Pirates were also shut out by the Brewers over the final four innings of Tuesday's 6-5 defeat.
"It's only two games in a long season," Pirates manager John Russell said when asked if his team's scoring drought was becoming a trend. "We need to start scoring some runs and we will. We haven't had any problem scoring runs this season until these last two games.
"It's tough when you don't score and you're getting good pitching and defense like we've been the last couple of days but I'm not worried."
The Pirates entered Friday's play 14th among the 30 major-league teams with an average of 4.81 runs scored a game.
"We're going to be fine," said left fielder Nyjer Morgan, who had two of the five hits. "There's nobody panicking. We're disappointed that the guys on the bump are throwing the ball well and we're not scoring for them but we know we can score runs. It's just something you go through every so often."
REDS 4, PIRATES 0: Zach Duke (3-2) allowed only one run and six hits in seven innings but it wasn't enough to keep him from taking a tough-luck loss. The Pirates were shut out for the second game in a row and their losing streak reached four games as Bronson Arroyo and Francisco Cordero combined on a five-hitter.
