Kevin Gorman's Take 5: Pirates learn that close plays win close games in beating Brewers
Derek Shelton sounds ready to ride the roller coaster with the Pittsburgh Pirates, experiencing the highs and lows of being a major-league manager in a three-day span with plenty of firsts.
He got the thrill of his first victory on Sunday, the agony of watching his team blow a four-run ninth-inning lead on Monday night and the enjoyment of a stirring comeback on Tuesday night as Adam Frazier hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning for an 8-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park.
“That’s why you take this job, fun nights like that,” Shelton said to start his postgame Zoom interview. “Really proud of our group. Resilient in coming back. I think that’s the one thing our fans are going to learn about this group, is they don’t give up. They haven’t. We’ve clawed back in every single game. Extremely resilient. Really fun night for our group. (Monday) was a tough night. Our staff and players bounced back.”
So, Shelton left out the 9-1 loss at St. Louis on Saturday, but his point is valid: The Pirates are showing signs of being a scrappy team. They have holes, especially in the beleaguered bullpen, but made some spectacular plays when it counted. And that’s not by accident.
“One of the things we’ve talked about that’s really important to us,” Shelton said, “is winning close plays.”
The Pirates are seeing that winning close plays can win close games.
1. Derek’s debut: Derek Holland made national headlines when he was ejected from a game Sunday before ever playing in one for the Pirates, something for which he took delight when they won.
Holland’s debut with the Pirates followed the crushing 6-5 loss in 11 innings in the home opener, when the bullpen blew a big lead in the ninth inning.
“We even talked about it last night, soon as the game was over,” Holland said. “When everybody came into the clubhouse, we made sure that they know that, ‘Hey, you know what, we fought. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win. We did everything we could. Let’s keep that momentum, use that in (Tuesday’s) game.’ And I thought the guys did a great job of that.”
They got off to a good start, thanks to Holland. He pitched 5 2/3 innings in his first start of the season, allowing two runs on two hits and three walks while striking out five. At one point, he struck out the heart of the Brewers’ order in succession, getting Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun swinging and Jedd Gyorko looking.
Shelton credited Holland and catcher John Ryan Murphy for executing the game plan, especially with the bullpen taking a blow with pregame news that relievers Kyle Crick (shoulder) and Clay Holmes (forearm) were placed on the 10-day injured list.
“The fact that he did go deeper, he got us in, he was efficient, that was extremely important,” Shelton said. “We needed a good start out of him.”
Heredia with the cannon. ?#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/sPNA3Vhh59
— Pirates (@Pirates) July 29, 2020
2. Dazzling defense: Holland pointed to the Pirates’ defense for making play after play. That shouldn’t be overlooked.
That includes Holland.
In the second inning, he walked Avisail Garcia and then picked him off at first. In the fourth, Holland hit Keston Hiura but got Yelich to hit into a double play.
But the biggest plays came late in the game. In the Brewers’ four-run seventh, Hiura hit a sacrifice fly to center but Guillermo Heredia made what Shelton called a “great throw” to third that saw Phillip Evans make “an unbelievable tag” on Orlando Arcia to stop the bleeding.
The Pirates answered with a four-run seventh to tie it, 6-6.
“I mean, the defense showed up and they’re making plays,” Holland said. “The offense did their part. We came out. As long as we do that every single time, we compete to win every series we play in, we’ll be just fine. We’re not too stressed out. The guys are there. They’re performing. They’re doing what they need to. They’re working hard. There’s always going to be that fight, so there’s a lot of great things that you’re seeing from this team.”
— Pirates (@Pirates) July 29, 2020
3. Reynolds wrap: Bryan Reynolds busted out of his 0-for-13 slump to start the season by getting a single and a double in his first two at bats, scoring in the fourth on Heredia’s two-run single.
But Reynolds saved his best play for left field, where he prevented the go-ahead run in the eighth.
Braun hit a leadoff bunt, advanced to second on Geoff Hartlieb’s throwing error and to third on Eric Sogard’s single. Garcia hit a fly ball to left that Reynolds caught on his back heel, took a shuffle-step and gunned a perfect one-hop throw to Murphy to peg Braun at the plate.
“Yeah, I’d say it’s one of my better ones up here,” Reynolds said. “I just tried to get behind it, and it kind of carried on me a little bit, so I didn’t get behind it as much as I would’ve liked. I was able to make a kind of in-between hop, and Murph scooped it well and put a good tag on it.”
Shelton said the play was a “testament to” coach Tarrik Brock, who has been working with the outfielders on throws to the plate, but Reynolds deserves the credit for putting it on the mark.
“Probably not the double play we drew up,” Shelton said, “but Reynolds with a good throw and Murph with the tag.”
4. Getting the W: Hartlieb’s first MLB victory probably wasn’t the way he drew it up, either.
Hartlieb opened training camp with the major-league club at PNC Park but was sent to the satellite camp in Altoona, only to be recalled when Crick and Holmes went on the IL.
The two double plays helped Hartlieb, but he also struck out one of the game’s best hitters in Yelich to end the seventh and got Justin Smoak to ground out to second with a runner on first to end the eighth. He earned his first win, under any circumstances, and the celebratory shower that accompanied it.
“Not the easiest situation when you drive over in a car and you get put in the heart of that game and you go back out in the eighth and do what he did,” Shelton said. “First big-league win. I mean, I experienced that a couple days ago. It’s a cool experience. It’s fun to be able to congratulate a guy on his first big league win.”
Nick Burdi recorded his first career save tonight. ?#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/tRkVQhUJEs
— Pirates (@Pirates) July 29, 2020
5. Big save: The bullpen’s biggest problem is the lack of a closer, something that wasn’t a problem the previous two seasons when they had an All-Star in Felipe Vazquez.
Now, it’s a nightmare.
Vazquez is in jail, Keone Kela tested positive for covid-19 and Crick was placed on the IL after another rough outing.
That brings us to Nick Burdi.
Burdi looked fantastic in Sunday’s 5-1 win over the Cardinals, fanning Paul Goldschmidt, Paul DeJong and Chris Carpenter to end the game. But Shelton said he wasn’t available Monday night, taking precautionary measures after Burdi had surgery last year for neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome.
Burdi wasn’t as spectacular but he certainly was efficient in earning his first career save. He started the ninth by walking Omar Narvaez, but struck out Ben Gamel and got Lorenzo Cain to hit into a game-ending double play at second.
“Being able to win tonight and then get the save, it was exciting,” said Burdi, who also got a beer shower. “This is one of those moments where, you know, it’s been six years in the making. Three surgeries later, finally got the first one. So it was definitely exciting.”
Like riding a roller coaster.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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