Morning Pirates Buzz: Pirates in market for pitching, Alvarez on brink of demotion?

The Pirates (32-29) dropped their second straight last night as the Baltimore Orioles cruised to a 7-1 victory.

Jake Arrieta (3-8) was dominant in ending a personal six-game losing streak. Arrieta gave up one run and seven hits, matching a career high with 9 strikeouts.

While the Pirates couldn't hit in key situations, going 1-13 with RISP (Clint Barmes 0-2, Neil Walker 0-3, Jose Tabata 0-1, Andrew McCutchen 0-2, Mike McKenry 0-1, Ales Presley 1-2, Pedro Alvarez 0-2) they also couldn't pitch as Kevin Correia (2-6, 4.43 ERA) allowed 10 hits and 5 runs in six innings pitched.

Some rumblings coming out this week include talk of despite a pressing need to add hitters, some members in the Pirates brass believe adding a starting pitcher to go with A.J. Burnett, James McDonald and Erik Bedard is just as big of a top priority as a hitter.