PITTSBURGH — Another lefty meant another loss for the Pirates in their rubber match against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After eight shutout innings from southpaw starter Eduardo Rodriguez fueled a 3-0 shutout on Wednesday afternoon, the club has lost five consecutive matchups against left-handed starting pitchers.

“I know the hitting group is working with the guys on different approaches and trying to figure it out,” manager Don Kelly said. “We have to find a way to be better against lefties.”

Wednesday’s loss was a particularly significant one, as the Pirates had a chance to take both the three-game set and the season series against Arizona, the latter being a potentially valuable tiebreaker in their chase for a National League wild-card spot.

Instead, the Pirates’ offense was blanked in the matinee at PNC Park.

In the opening stages, neither team had much to show offensively after they combined for 30 hits in Tuesday’s 12-inning gauntlet. Nick Gonzales’ leadoff single marked the only baserunner through the first three innings.

Jared Jones had retired nine straight baserunners to begin the game until Corbin Carroll doubled to lead off the fourth inning. Two at-bats later, Gabriel Moreno powered a 407-foot blast over the center-field wall to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead.

That home run, No. 8 on the season for Moreno, snapped Jones’ streak of facing 27 consecutive right-handed batters without allowing a hit.

“[I] didn’t even know that,” Jones said about the streak. “When I’m locating my stuff in a pretty good spot, [I] get a lot of outs.”

The Pirates’ offense started to show life when Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds, whose back-to-back home runs forced extra innings on Tuesday, knocked consecutive singles, but Esmerlyn Valdez grounded into a double play to end the inning and halt their momentum.

After allowing the home run, Jones settled back in. He threw a scoreless fifth inning and got two quick outs in the sixth, but a walk and two straight singles saw Moreno cross the plate a second time to add another run to the Diamondbacks’ lead.

Jared Triolo singled in the bottom of the frame, but the Pirates couldn’t find another hit until he did it again in the eighth inning.

“We don't throw up a lot of zeros on offense,” Triolo said. “Today definitely stung a little bit because of the challenges their pitcher brought to us and just staying out of the middle of the zone.”

Despite three stellar innings from Carmen Mlodzinski, the Pirates couldn’t find any more late-game offense.

In the ninth inning, Diamondbacks reliever Brandyn Garcia struck out Lowe and Reynolds before a groundout by Ryan O’Hearn clinched the Pirates’ third consecutive series loss.

The defeat capped a homestand during which the squad lost four games to two teams ahead of them in the wild-card race.

“2-4 isn't good enough,” Kelly said. “We're right there. We just need to continue to do the little things that we need to do to get over the hump, win those close games and win games against these teams.”

It was over when ...

... Gonzales lined out to end the eighth inning.

The Pirates were hard pressed for momentum throughout the game, but Triolo’s second hit of the day gave them an opportunity to spark another late rally.

Three straight outs killed any chance of that.

On the mound

Entering Wednesday, Jones had posted a 1.29 ERA in four July starts.

He allowed three runs, the most since his June 27 start against the Cincinnati Reds, but struck out five Diamondbacks and walked two to complete a solid line.

Jones’ attack was almost entirely made up of sliders and fastballs, with the two offerings comprising 73 of the 77 pitches he threw. His slider was more effective, as it generated four of his five strikeouts and a 40% whiff rate.

“Tried to throw the curveball and change-up and couldn’t throw it for a strike, so [I was] sticking with what I know,” Jones said.

Allowing three runs through six innings on the mound gave Jones his third quality start of the season. The Pirates haven’t won any of them.

Despite being tagged with his second loss of the season, Jones was efficient throughout the afternoon.

He threw 58 pitches through the first five innings, less than when he took 67 to finish the same amount of frames during his perfect outing on July 8.

“Getting the ball over the plate, not letting them breathe is what I’m trying to do right now, and if that makes me efficient, that makes me efficient,” Jones said.

Mlodzinski tossed three shutout frames to prevent the Diamondbacks’ advantage from growing after Jones exited, allowing two hits and striking out Nolan Arenado.

Kelly pointed to his belief in the offense as a main reason for why he went to Mlodzinski in that spot.

“Last night, we showed the ability to come back being down by six late in the game,” Kelly said. “Being down three there [and with] the importance of this game, Carmen did a great job keeping it at three.”

At the plate

Rodriguez allowed just five hits through eight innings of work, walking just a single batter and striking out two.

In contrast to Jones, Rodriguez hasn’t had an extremely strong July, but the All-Star put in his second-longest outing of the season to keep the Diamondbacks in a wild-card spot.

“His cutter-change-up combo kept us off balance,” Kelly said. “There were a few hits that I thought we hit decently well. We didn't really smoke it to the outfield, but I thought they made a couple really good plays. We have to be better and have better, consistent at-bats.”

Triolo’s two singles made him one of only two Pirates to reach base multiple times, joining Reynolds, who singled and walked.

“He had four pitches working and was staying out of the middle of the zone,” Triolo said. “That's what pitchers like him do, and he did it today.”

Marcell Ozuna, Henry Davis, Jhostynxon Garcia, Valdez and O’Hearn went a combined 0 for 16, though Valdez drew one of the Pirates’ two walks.

Bucs bites

— Jones’ second strikeout marked No. 1,000 for the Pirates this season. They finished the game with 1,004, ranking No. 3 in the major leagues this year behind only the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers.

— Paul Skenes, originally slated to pitch on Thursday, will now take the mound on Friday in Cincinnati as the Pirates work through their stretch of 17 consecutive days with a game.

Up next

The Pirates will open a four-game series with the Reds on Thursday. It’ll be a bullpen game against Cincinnati's Rhett Lowder (3-7, 5.61 ERA). RHP Yohan Ramirez (6-3, 3.21 ERA) will start for the Pirates.