The Pittsburgh Pirates lost for the eighth time in their past 12 games on Sunday afternoon, dropping a 4-2 decision to the Miami Marlins to leave them as a .500 team (36-36) and on the fringes of wild-card contention in the National League. 

They are better than they have been in recent years. But they are still not quite consistent enough to be a serious threat in the National League playoff race.

There are a couple of things holding them back right now. 

Injuries to Oneil Cruz and Konnor Griffin have robbed the lineup of power, speed and explosiveness. There is no set timeline for either to return.

The bullpen has been a year-long issue that is only getting worse each series. 

But another more shocking issue recently has been the fact Paul Skenes has not been his normal dominant self over the past month. Sunday's loss to the Marlins was the sixth consecutive Skenes start the Pirates have failed to record a win. 

That is a staggering number, and it's one of the factors in their .500 record.

So what's happening here that the Pirates have been unable to get wins when their ace and reigning Cy Young Award winner is on the mound?

There's a lot going on. 

How much of the issue is Paul Skenes and how much is the rest of the team?

It's not unfair to say that Skenes has hit what can easily be described as the first extended slump of his career. 

Over the past six starts, including Sunday's start where he allowed two runs in six innings, his ERA is 4.45. That has raised his season ERA from 1.98 to the 2.85 mark it sits at now. 

Granted, most starting pitchers would be ecstatic with any ERA that begins with a two, and most teams would be equally ecstatic. But Skenes has set a standard and bar so impossibly high that anything that doesn't begin with a one almost seems underwhelming. 

It's probably unfair, but that's what happens with elite expectations.

While the recent numbers are significantly worse than his career averages, even that was driven up by two ugly starts against the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays where he allowed nine earned runs over 10 innings in those two starts.

In the four starts since those two, including Sunday, his ERA is a much better 2.45.

Outside of allowing two solo home runs in the second inning of Sunday's game, he mostly looked like his dominant self and struck out 10 batters over six innings. That is the good news.

The biggest issue lately has been his pitch count getting run up early in games and forcing him out of starts earlier than he would like. He has thrown over 100 pitches in six innings or less in each of the past four starts. Strikeout pitchers do tend to see their pitch counts elevate, but he's had some command issues at times that have produced a lot of deep counts. 

Still, a 2.45 ERA in four starts from your ace should produce at least one win, if not two or three. This is where the rest of the team's failures come on.

Over Skenes' past six starts, the Pirates have given him just 19 runs of offensive support, and nine of those came in one game (an 11-9 loss to the Houston Astros). 

That leaves only 10 runs for the other five starts. That's not good enough. 

The defense behind him has also contributed to four unearned runs for Skenes in these past six starts, which has also played a role in the elevated pitch count and not getting out of innings sooner. You can't give teams extra outs. 

Then there are the aforementioned bullpen issues. 

In Skenes' past six starts, the Pirates bullpen has allowed 22 earned runs in 18 innings, producing a 10.81 ERA over that stretch. It has not only blown leads (like in Houston), it has also turned competitive, close games that were winnable into lopsided losses. 

Skenes hasn't been himself. But he's been better than zero wins in six starts.