OAKLAND, Calif. — A regretful road trip began the same way it started: with a shutout.

The Pirates’ bats were silenced again by Athletics starter Ross Stripling and Co. on Wednesday afternoon at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, falling 4-0 to close out a 1-5 stretch on the West Coast. In their last 16 games, the Pirates have gone 3-13, scoring 31 runs while sliding to 14-18 overall and the cellar of the National League Central.

On Wednesday, the Pirates left 10 runners on base, upping the figure to a whopping 46 across their last six games. They also only recorded 13 hits against the A’s en route to tallying just three runs while being swept in the series.

“This club's gone through it,” Andrew McCutchen said. “This isn't anything new. Hate to say that, but it's something that we've experienced.

“We experienced it last year. It's just things are a little more intensified when you have the start that you have, right? We had the start that we had last year, and then that happened. Now this year, had a start, now this has happened.”

To McCutchen’s point, the Pirates have squandered a 9-2 beginning to the season, similar in some ways to 2023, when they began the campaign 20-8 before a rotten May. The mercurial results have only been expedited, with the likes of Henry Davis, Oneil Cruz and Jack Suwinski currently slumping.

McCutchen, who went 1 for 14 in California, said he hasn’t held up his end of the bargain, either.

“Haven't done that at all this road trip,” McCutchen said. “I got one hit this whole road trip. You're just out there trying to do your job. I take my walks when I take them. But I feel like I can be better. Got to be a little more consistent.”

The Pirates did piece together some legitimate opportunities against Stripling, who had last won a game on Oct. 1, 2022. Suwinski lined out with runners at the corners in the second inning. The Pirates even received a trio of gifts, as Oakland third baseman Tyler Nevin made two throwing errors and an off-line pickoff attempt from Stripling moved a runner to third.

No matter. The Pirates did little with those chances, perhaps none more wasted than their seventh-inning rally. A’s reliever Austin Adams walked a pair to load the bases for Bryan Reynolds. Adams, who only threw six of 17 pitches for strikes, fell behind 3-0 before roaring back to strike out Reynolds swinging with a slider out of the zone.

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