PITTSBURGH _ The buildup to Wednesday's game could not have been better.
There was a moment of silence for Vera Clemente and a first pitch all the way from Puerto Rico. Flanked by owner Bob Nutting, Josh Bell was recognized as the Pirates' Roberto Clemente Award winner, a richly deserved honor.
As both teams lined up along the baselines, the omnipresence of No. 21 was a neat visual, the same for the gigantic "21" that was etched into the right-field grass.
It was a terrific tribute, but unfortunately for the Pirates, the baseball didn't cooperate. That part of the evening was a snoozefest, with Pittsburgh dropping an 8-1 decision to the White Sox at PNC Park.
For a team that has actually been reasonably competitive of late, this was not that. The Pirates came into Wednesday's game having won 10 of 20, but the seven-run deficit marked their second-most lopsided loss of the season.
It was a rough start for JT Brubaker and a slow night for the offense, which struggled against White Sox starter Dane Dunning.
Chicago got two home runs from catcher James McCann and improved its record to 27-16 by taking three of four in the season series between the teams.
The trouble for Brubaker started in the third inning, when he gave up a solo homer to McCann. Brubaker actually made a pretty good pitch, a curveball low and away, but it mattered little to McCann, whose smooth stroke allowed the ball to carry over the center-field fence.
The White Sox scored four more runs in the fourth inning, using four singles and no extra-base hits to get them. First baseman Yasmani Grandal drove in the first with a single before McCann followed with a sacrifice fly.
The real back-breaker came from second baseman Nick Madrigal, whose two-run single with two strikes and two outs made it a 5-0 game.
Brubaker bounced back in the fifth, retiring the White Sox in order, but he encountered more trouble in the sixth, after Pirates manager Derek Shelton allowed the 26-year-old a chance to extend his pitch count; Brubaker started the sixth at 87 pitches.
Shelton and the Pirates paid for that decision when McCann crushed a mistake pitch from Brubaker, a slider that was middle-middle. The no-doubter traveled 423 feet and ended Brubaker's night.
Tyler Bashlor entered the game and allowed a run-scoring double to third baseman Yoan Moncada.
The issues for Brubaker stemmed from the White Sox actually hitting his breaking stuff, which other teams haven't done this season. Entering Wednesday, opponents were slugging .219 against his slider and just .071 against Brubaker's curveball.
Meanwhile, he's been throwing those two pitches 48.1% of the time _ smart considering opposing hitters had just one extra-base hit on them before Wednesday.
The White Sox handled Brubaker's breaking stuff, forcing him into a pair of walks, and McCann did what others have not been able to do in taking it deep. (The previous two home runs Brubaker allowed came on sinkers.)
Meanwhile, the Pirates offense was mostly. Adam Frazier led off the game with a single to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, but they didn't get a runner to second base until the fifth, when Bell led off with a single.
In the fifth, the Pirates fell victim to a terrific play from Moncada at third, when he backhanded a slow roller to nab Newman. An inning later, left fielder Eloy Jimenez ran down one in the gap from Bryan Reynolds, gloving a ball that only had a catch probability of 15%.
The White Sox have delivered some stellar starting pitching performances against the Pirates this season, and this one was no different. Dunning went six scoreless, allowing three hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
There was another failed opportunity for the Pirates in the seventh inning, as they had runners on the corners with one out. Ke'Bryan Hayes struck out swinging, and Madrigal gobbled up a grounder from Newman.
The Pirates did push one across in the eighth, when McCann was called for catcher's interference with the bases loaded.
The loss for the Pirates (14-27) obviously doesn't matter a ton in the grand scheme of things. They're out of the playoffs, and they're going to have slow nights at the plate.
But it had to be frustrating that they weren't able to deliver on a special night during which the Pirates did everything _ before first pitch _ right, including wearing Clemente's number and honoring the man in a multitude of ways.
