Pittsburgh Pirates Swept by Cincinnati Reds: Reaction and Analysis

It hasn't exactly been an ideal start to the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  

The Cincinnati Reds, who do not exactly have the most intimidating team on paper, finished off a three-game sweep of the Pirates Thursday afternoon at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio.  

The Pirates held an early lead before the Reds tied it in the sixth. The Buccos eventually lost 3-2 on an error by right fielder Gregory Polanco in the bottom of the ninth inning.  

Mistakes in the field cannot be made in close games for a team to win.  Along with that, Pittsburgh's relief corps has lost all three games thus far.  

Here are four things to know following Pittsburgh's opening series:

Burnett's Sharp Outing

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

In his first start of his final major league season, A.J. Burnett did just about everything he could to earn his first victory of the season.  

The 38-year-old held the Reds scoreless through 5.1 innings before allowing the game-tying two-run homer to Joey Votto.  

Overall, Burnett was sharp on the mound, yielding just four hits and a walk while striking out seven hitters.  

A bounce-back season from Burnett, who went just 8-18 with a 4.59 ERA for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2014, would be greatly beneficial to the Pirates playoff hopes this season.  

It would not, however, be a surprise to see him bounce back, as he has had a history of success as a member of Pittsburgh's organization, going 26-21 in 62 starts for the Pirates in just over two full seasons.

Hitter-Friendly Confines

Micheal E. Keating/Associated Press

The ball seemed to be carrying well Thursday afternoon at the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.  

With the Pirates up 1-0 in the top of the sixth inning, Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez took an Anthony DeSclafani pitch over the left field wall for his first home run of the season.  

Alvarez practically hit the ball of the end of his bat, and what looked like a soft lineout to deep left ended up being a 2-0 lead for the Pirates.  

In the bottom half of the inning, Reds star first baseman Joey Votto put his head down, signaling that he thought the pitch from Burnett he had hit to center would be caught by Andrew McCutchen.  

McCutchen kept backpedaling to the warning track until the ball was just over the wall and out of McCutchen's range.

Tony Watson Bounces Back

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

It was no surprise to see setup man Tony Watson come in and do the job, as he struck out a batter in a perfect eight inning Thursday.  

What was surprising was to see Watson get dealt the loss after giving up three earned runs in the eighth inning against the Reds on Opening Day.  

Watson is coming off one of the most impressive seasons for a relief pitcher in recent memory, going 10-2 in 78 innings pitched with a ridiculous 1.63 ERA in 2014.  

The Pirates have tremendous talent in their bullpen this season, but without the productivity from Watson that we saw last season, they could struggle to hold leads late in games.

There is no need to panic, however, as Watson showed that Monday's poor performance was just a blip on the radar for the dominant southpaw.  

Marte's Ineffectiveness

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Many, including myself, have predicted that 2015 will be a monster season for Pirates left fielder Starling Marte.

Although it is way to early to place judgement on a player's season, Marte has looked ill at the plate. In 13 at-bats so far this season, Marte has struck out seven times and has left seven runners stranded on base.  His lone hit was a double in Wednesday's 5-4 loss.  

Marte and the Pirates have plenty of time to get things going, but if they wish to start a hot streak, Marte must start hitting.  At the very least, he has to reduce his strikeouts and move runners into scoring position.  

The Pirates will be just fine.  They have lost their first three games by a combined five runs.  Key mistakes such as Polanco's dropped ball in right will have to be ironed out as the season progresses.  

For now, the Pirates are still searching for their first victory.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.