The Pittsburgh Pirates are reeling after a hot start. And Paul Skenes isn't around

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Martín Pérez knows what winning baseball looks like.

The veteran left-handed pitcher has the World Series hardware to prove it.

He knows what bad body language looks like too. And at the moment, the Pittsburgh Pirates are displaying far too much of it during a six-game slide that’s tempered some of the optimism that surrounded the club during a promising start.

“We’re putting too much pressure on,” Pérez said after a 6-1 loss to Boston on Sunday dropped Pittsburgh to 11-11. “We’re not getting the results that we’re looking for. We have to come in tomorrow, go out there and enjoy it and try to play better.”

At the moment, it’s a relatively low bar to clear. The Pirates have managed just nine runs during their slide and the series finale against the Red Sox was pockmarked by careless mistakes. Pérez labored through four-plus innings, twice Pittsburgh ran into outs at second base and slumping shortstop Oneil Cruz let a routine pop up glance off his glove, allowing an insurance run to score.