Pirates pitchers allowed four home runs in an 8-1 loss to the visiting Red Sox at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

Quinn Priester, the Pirates’ young pitching prospect who didn’t exactly inspire hope during his rookie season a year ago, continued to not impress during his 2024 debut against Boston. Priester pitched 4.1 innings and allowed seven hits, four earned runs and three of those homers.

Priester was filling in for veteran Marco Gonzales, who is currently on the 15-day injured list with a left forearm strain. While the former may be having trouble establishing himself as a Major League pitcher and living up to his status as a 2019 first-round pick, the pitching staff is the least of Pittsburgh’s worries.

As for the hitters? That’s a different story. The Pirates plated nine runs in a blowout victory in Philadelphia last Sunday. Andrew McCutchen closed out the scoring by launching a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning. It was McCutchen’s 300th home run and was a nice way to secure a four-game split in the City of Brotherly Love.

Unfortunately, that was the last time a Pirates player homered. Pittsburgh collected 13 hits and five runs in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Mets at Citi Field during the week. Included in those hits was one extra-base knock.

The Pirates only collected four hits on Friday night in the loss to Boston. If you’re doing the math at home, that’s 17 hits and six runs during what has turned into a four-game slide.

Henry Davis is batting .182. Rowdy Tellez is hitting .218. Oneil Cruz, in many ways, the centerpiece of the team’s immediate future, is only hitting .222. Bryan Reynolds is only batting .253. After a hot start, Ke’Bryan Hayes’s average is down to .262. Centerfielder Michael A. Taylor is the only Bucco regular batting .300 (and he’s exactly .300).

It’s a shame the Pirates bats have gone cold because what once was an exciting 9-2 start, has turned into a 2-7 slump that now sees the team sitting with a very ordinary 11-9 record after 20 games.

I realize slumps happen all the time in baseball, but Pittsburgh needs to nip this current one in the bud before things really get out of hand. Remember last year, when everyone was euphoric about the Pirates’ 20-8 start over the first month of the season? Sadly, they only won a combined 27 games over the next three months.

These young Buccos have to weather these kinds of slumps and quickly get back on track. Thankfully, they appear to have the kind of starting pitching that can prevent the kind of stretch that methodically unraveled their 2023 campaign.

But regardless of how good the Pirates pitching may be, no staff can make up for how bad their hitters are right now.