The picture I chose to accompany this article came from the first inning of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Tigers, where in one moment Bryan Reynolds embodied the maddening frustration that is the 2020 Pirates.
Two Bucs were on base: Adam Frazier, who had singled and stolen second, and Colin Moran, who’d drawn a walk. With two outs, Reynolds came to the plate. Tigers pitcher Spencer Turnbull, as opposing pitchers have been doing lately, struck Reynolds out with relative ease. Reynolds threw his bat and snarled one of the Seven Words You Can’t Say on TV loudly enough to be easily overheard by the viewing audience and draw a rebuke from home plate umpire Bill Welke.