The Pittsburgh Pirates thought they'd hit their stride after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series which ran from June 30 to July 2. The Pirates didn't surrender a single run all series against their division rivals and then set off for the Pacific Northwest in hopes of staying hot against the Seattle Mariners.

Fresh off their three consecutive shutouts in their sweep of the Cardinals, Pittsburgh's bats were unable to stay hot. In a stunning turn, the Pirates proceeded to drop all three games of the series against the Mariners and failed to put up a single run of their own.

According to Opta Stats, that's the first time in MLB history a team has had "back-to-back series of three-plus games with a sweep of shutouts for and against, in either order."

That's baseball for you.

Paul Skenes, who was named a National League All-Star on Sunday, started the rubber match of the series in Seattle. He struck out 10 across five scoreless innings before being removed at just 78 pitches. The Pirates surrendered a home run in the sixth inning and lost the game, 1–0.

They'll hope to avoid making it four straight shutouts when they take the field on Monday against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pirates Make Bizarre MLB History After Being Held Scoreless in Sweep vs. Mariners.

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