After a tough opening month of the season, the Pirates opened manager Derek Shelton, and Pittsburgh quickly entered its last place in the central part of the National League.

General Manager Ben Cherington announced Thursday. Substitute coach Don Kelly will take over as Shelton, the first manager to shoot in the Major League this season.

The decision was Pittsburgh's seven-game winning streak, with a record dropping to 12-26, with the team's Chicago Cubs withdrawing from 10 games in the NL Central. Shelton was hired by Cherington in November 2019 and was 306-440 in more than five Buccaneers seasons as part of the entire franchise reset.

"Derek worked hard for over five years and sacrificed a lot," Cherington said in a statement. "His family has become an important part of the pirate family and we will miss it. He is an incredibly smart, curious and motivated baseball leader. I believe he is the right person to hire. I also believe that there is a need to make a change now. I hope Derek and his family will go well in the next chapter."

Martin noted that there is a lot of baseball to play, and he said the team needs to “take action with a sense of urgency and take the necessary steps to get back on track as a team and organization.” He said the first quarter of the season was “frustrated and painful for all of us”.

The Pirates, ranked 26th on the 30th on the MLB team on opening day’s salary, began the season hoping to compete behind dominating NL rookie of the year. Although the 22-year-old Skenes has been solid and has been consistent in starting rotation overall, Pittsburgh’s offense has been in a slump near the bottom of the season, only at the Colorado Rockies’ average and scoring average.

Pittsburgh is in the middle of a tough spot, starting with the team being swept by San Diego and St. Louis. Pittsburgh's next nine games are against NL forces Atlanta, New York Metropolis and Philadelphia.

Kelly, a former Major League Baseball player, entered the major leagues with Pittsburgh, is a local in the city and has served at the Pirates since 2020.

"Donnie is as respected as anyone in the entire organization," Nutting said. "He is a pirate. He bleeds black and gold. No one is more determined, no one likes this team or city better than Donnie. He is the right person to manage our team and help us get back on track."

The Buccaneers have not had a playoffs since 2015. It was the second longest playoff drought in baseball, just ahead of the Los Angeles Angels, which has not made the playoffs since 2014.

The Buccaneers gave Shelton, a former minor league catcher, his first major league management job after coaching in various positions in Tampa Bay, Toronto and Minnesota.

Cherington has appointed him to set a new foundation for the club that has been a campaign for the past three decades, except for the brief three years from 2013 to 2015, when the Pirates regained their reputation.

Consistently optimistic Shelton oversees a clubhouse for the first four seasons, while Cherington trades most of the established major leagues on the roster - Joe Musgrove, Josh Musgrove, Josh Bell and Jameson Taillon for the club's prospect pool.

Pittsburgh won less than 40% of the games in Sheldon's first three seasons before taking a step forward when he won 76 games in 2023. Skenes' arrival last May gave the franchise another shock, the Buccaneers were in the playoffs until they were in trouble in August.

The club's lack of offense in 2024 is its biggest problem. Instead of investing in proven major league talent, Cherington has made a re-tunement of the coaching staff and part of the scouting division, including firing batting coach Andy Haines and replacing him with Matt Hague. The team's biggest offseason pickup was the acquisition of first baseman Spencer Horwitz (still recovered from surgery in the winter) and signed Tommy Pham and Adam Frazier.

The results have not been followed. Pittsburgh is close to the Grand Slam without signs of improvement in running (29th), OPS (29th), home run (28th) and average (27th) run (29th). The Pirates have won five runs in total in the last five games and were eliminated twice at the same time.

They were even struggling when Skynis was on the hill. The 2023 first-year draft pick has a considerable 2.77 ERA in eight games in 2025, but the Pirates scored 3-5 in those games, including a 2-1 loss to St. Louis on Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.