Nick Mears comes through in major moment for Pirates, escaping bases-loaded jam at Reds

The Pittsburgh Pirates were clinging to a one-run lead over the Cincinnati Reds in the seventh inning Tuesday when Nick Mears walked the first two batters, then gave up a bloop single to load the bases with no outs.

Facing a high-leverage situation and the heart of the Reds’ lineup, the 24-year-old right-handed reliever realized he had to pitch himself out of the jam that he had created by falling behind in the count.

“My first thought was ‘I need to get ahead here to give myself a chance,’” Mears said of facing Nick Castellanos, “because I have so much respect for that guy at the plate that if I had any chance, I need to get ahead and stay ahead so that I could strike him out or pop him up to keep us in the game.”

Mears turned to his four-seam fastball to get ahead, got a pair of pop-ups — Castellanos to first baseman Colin Moran in foul territory and cleanup hitter Joey Votto to Bryan Reynolds in shallow center — and then struck out Kyle Farmer looking at a curveball to escape the inning in impressive fashion in a 6-2 win at Great American Ball Park.

“He really executed pitches,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I don’t know if he threw a fastball at that point under 97. Just continued to attack guys, and we’ve talked about guys that have pitched themselves into different situations by the opportunity, and Nick Mears I think is a perfect example of that. He’s pitched himself into high-leverage innings near the end of the year, and it was really good to see. It was really cool to see, actually.”

One week ago, Nick Mears was left in to work out of his own jam vs. the Reds. Four runs scored.

Today, Nick Mears got another chance vs. the Reds in a bases-loaded jam. No runs scored.

"This is what you work for. You work for those leverage situations as a relief pitcher." pic.twitter.com/j2oQCxeGBE

— Jake Crouse (@JakeCrouseMLB) September 22, 2021

Only a week earlier against the Reds, Mears entered in the sixth inning with a 6-0 lead only to load the bases and give up four runs on five hits and a walk with one strikeout in a 6-5 win at PNC Park.

But Shelton recalled how Mears handled a bases-loaded situation against the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 11, when he got into a 3-1 count against Paul Goldschmidt before getting the All-Star slugger to ground out to end the inning.

Shelton placed his trust in Mears’ four-seam fastball — which touched 98 mph and averaged 96.5 mph on 19 of his 26 pitches — mixed with a curveball that kept Reds hitters guessing.

“I liked the fact that I knew he was going throw his fastball, and at that time, we were going to need punchouts,” Shelton said. “We were going to need soft contact, and we were going to need punchouts. The way he came after Schrock, I thought, ‘All right, let’s go. Let’s see it.’ And he did it. Big moment for him. Big growth moment for him.”

The moment wasn’t lost on Mears, especially in consideration of the conditions. The game was played in a steady drizzle, and the mound was less than ideal when Mears entered the game. He lost his footing on his first warm-up pitch, which caused the umpires to bring the grounds crew onto the field to rake and add dirt to the pitcher’s mound.

“It kind of affected me more mentally,” Mears said, especially against the first three batters. “And then I had to really lock it in again.”

Mears called the adrenaline a factor, but said he focused on the work he’s done with pitching coach Oscar Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage to make it easier to replicate his delivery “so that I can stay aggressive at all times during the at-bat.”

To do so, Mears explained that he shortened his base and is standing up more instead of bending when he comes to set. Now, he can sit down into and drive off his back leg instead of bringing his knee up.

“It’s so that I can gain momentum and drive more into my front leg,” Mears said, “instead of spinning off of it.”

It worked. Mears got ahead in counts against Castellanos and Votto to induce fly balls, then fired three consecutive fastballs to Farmer, who fouled off two before looking at a called third strike on a curve.

Mears knows that it was a major moment in his career.

“This is what you work for,” Mears said. “From a kid in Little League, this is what you work for. You work for those leverage situations as a relief pitcher. So for them to have the confidence in me to get out of that situation, it means a lot to me.”