OAKLAND -- Ke'Bryan Hayes made solid contact on the first swing of Monday's game. Athletics starter Joe Boyle delivered a fastball in, and Hayes shot it into right field for a base hit.

The Pirates wouldn't get their second hit until one in the ninth, an Oneil Cruz bouncer up the middle.

That was the entirety of the Pirates' offense Monday. Two hits. One run. Another loss, this time a 5-1 decision to the Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum.

"We're in a situation right now where we have to figure out a better approach," said Pirates manager Derek Shelton.

This has been the norm for two weeks now. Over the Pirates' last 13 games, they've mustered 26 runs. It's just the third time since 2000 that they have gone a stretch of at least 13 games in the same season while averaging two runs or fewer (April 30 to May 16, 2023, and Sept. 5-19, 2017.)

On paper, Monday was a good chance for the Pirates to break out of their funk. Athletics starter Joe Boyle entered with a 7.06 ERA and a 15.5% walk rate, which seemed to align well for an offense that has a good understanding of the strike zone and can be selective. That wildness gave the Pirates their lone run of the night, as he airmailed several pitches over catcher Shea Langeliers' head en route to a pair of walks and a run-scoring wild pitch.

While Boyle was still irregular all night, walking four over five innings and throwing more balls (46) than strikes (45), it didn't yield anything offensively. From the fourth inning on, the Pirates had three runners reach base and grounded into three double plays.

In four games on this West Coast trip, the Pirates have scored just four runs in regulation. When it rains, it pours. Or in this case, when it doesn't rain in California, it really doesn't rain.

So it comes back to the same question that has hindered this team during this stretch: How do you get the offense going? Shelton has juggled the batting order to drop struggling hitters and give other guys a different look. They could theoretically call up someone like Nick Gonzales, who has a .385 batting average and 1.028 OPS with Triple-A Indianapolis.

"It's a little bit of taking ownership, every guy in their approach, and then just collectively building off of it," said Shelton on how they can reverse their fortunes. "Right now, we're in a little bit of a rut where we need to figure out a spark. We need a base hit that falls. We need something to go through to get us going."

Shelton cited times when the Pirates had opportunities but did not get aggressive afterward. Being too aggressive against a young pitcher who is struggling to find the zone like Boyle could be a pitfall, but can being more aggressive in general be a potential solution?

"I think in some spots, maybe," said Hayes. "There's times where we could have been more aggressive, but we're a team, we work the counts pretty well. Just sometimes, we got to be able to figure out when we're doing that, you got to figure out how to manufacture some runs. So I mean, it's still early, it's still April. But with a guy like that, you got to figure out whenever he's walking guys, making him throw a lot of pitches, got to figure out how to get him out of there."

There is one game left in April. Regardless of that game's result, the Pirates will finish the first month of the season under .500 despite starting 9-2. The starting pitching has far exceeded expectations and done its part. The offense has not.

It doesn't mean hope is lost, though.

"I got nothing but trust in these guys," said starting pitcher Bailey Falter. "We're not really clicking on all cylinders right now, but it's still early in the year and we're gonna get it figured out and we're gonna be great."