As the Pirates took on the Diamondbacks in the first of a three-game weekend series at Chase Field on Friday night, they did so as one of the hottest teams in baseball.

Pittsburgh had won 10 of its previous 13 and was just one-and-a-half games out of the third and final wildcard spot in the National League. The main problem, though, was that the Diamondbacks entered Friday’s game as one of several teams in the race for wildcard positioning; not only were the Diamondbacks one-half game ahead of Pittsburgh, but they were still on the outside looking in at the Padres, who sat in the third wildcard spot.

In other words, the weekend series at Arizona is crucial for the Pirates, and they began the game playing just that way. Pittsburgh scored two runs in the top of the first inning on a single by Joshua Palacios. Pittsburgh added another run in the top of the second when Andrew McCutchen drove in catcher Joey Bart with a double to make it 3-0.

Luis Ortiz, yet another young and promising Pirates pitcher, started Friday’s game, and while he wasn’t at his most effective, he did limit Arizona to one run through five innings. Unfortunately, Joc Pederson opened the bottom of the sixth with a 453-foot bomb to make it 3-2. Ortiz walked the next batter and was then removed from the game.

Carmen Mlodzinski came on in relief and quickly allowed two singles which tied the game at three. With men on first and third and nobody out, Eugenio Suarez lined into a double play. But when it looked like the Bucs would escape the inning with a tie, Mlodzinski uncorked a wild pitch to score the go-ahead run.

Pittsburgh had chances to at least tie the game over the last three innings–including two on with nobody out in the top of the seventh; and two on with one out in the top of the eighth–but could not capitalize and lost by a score of 4-3.

The Pirates (52-51) are now one-and-a-half games back of Arizona in the standings and two-and-a-half behind San Diego for the third wildcard. So, despite winning 10 of 14 games, Pittsburgh isn’t much closer to the final wildcard than it was following that disappointing home loss to the Mets on July 7. That’s the bad news. The good news is the Pirates are only three games back of the top wildcard seed thanks to the injury-riddled Braves, who have lost six straight. The bad news is the Mets have won five in a row and currently own the fourth seed. The good news is Pittsburgh has five more games against the Diamondbacks over the next couple of weeks. The bad news is the Bucs must also play the Astros, Dodgers and Padres in the near future.

The good news is the Pirates can do damage during this crucial stretch of games. The bad news is they can have a lot of damage done to them and their playoff chances.

But that’s down the road. What matters now is finding a way to do damage during these last two games in Arizona. That may be easier said than done. The red-hot Bryan Reynolds is on the bereavement list and away from the team. Also, Rowdy Tellez, one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball over the past month or so, left Friday’s game with what appears to be a minor back injury.

The Pirates’ already compromised offense will certainly be missing its best hitter for the entirety of this weekend series in Arizona, and it may now be without arguably its two best hitters over the final two games. 

The National League wildcard race may be close and crowded, but the Pirates, who currently have two teams to leap over to make it to the third seed, must avoid a slump.

Every game counts, and they can’t afford to lose many games like the one they threw away in Arizona on Friday night.