Tim Benz: Jam-packed half-hour for Michael Chavis ends up telling whole story for Pirates

Michael Chavis seemed disappointed that he hadn’t impacted Thursday’s Pirates-Cubs game much. He was 0 for 3, and over at first base, he hadn’t been given much of an opportunity to impact the game defensively.

Yet once the game was over, Chavis was at the center of the three biggest plays of the game, and the Pirates were walking off the field as 8-7 winners in 10 innings.

“It was a little bit of a roller coaster there,” Chavis told AT&T SportsNet after the win. “But (I am) happy the way it turned out.”

The roller coaster started picking up speed for Chavis in the bottom of the eighth inning. In the top of the frame, Chicago had scored five times to turn a 6-2 deficit into a 7-6 advantage. But leading off the bottom half of the eighth, Chavis hit a 410-foot home run to center field.

Michael Chavis ties it! pic.twitter.com/hiUvKOmoRz

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 23, 2022

That tied the game again at 7-7, and it remained that way until extra innings. That’s when Chavis made a gem of a defensive play to keep that score intact. He threw out Patrick Wisdom at home plate for the second out of the inning.

CHAVIS WITH THE PLAY! pic.twitter.com/eeC47SjlhL

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 23, 2022

After the Pirates got one more out to get the game to the bottom of the 10th still tied at 7-7, Chavis blooped a hit into right field to drive in Ke’Bryan Hayes for the winning run.

We asked if Michael Chavis had an encore to his game-tying HR?

Spoiler: He did!

The @Pirates win 8-7 & Take the series from the Cubs!

Note: Derek Shelton on Hayes: "He's Ok, He's being evaluated. The good news is he walked off under his own power." pic.twitter.com/WUbeOIj0XG

— AT&T SportsNet™ PIT (@ATTSportsNetPIT) June 23, 2022

“It was a nice culmination of 30 minutes for Michael Chavis,” manager Derek Shelton said.

“The play he made was a really good play. That’s do or die. You go to your backhand. You’ve got to be able to take two steps forward on that. Because there is no time. Wisdom had a really good jump on it. And (catcher) Tyler Heineman made a really good play.”

The hits were certainly crucial. But who knows how far off the rails that top of the 10th inning gets if it’s not for the throw Chavis made from first base to nail Wisdom at home plate.

“I saw a high chopper. So I figured off the bat, he would be going. I actually heard them say, ‘Go, go, go,’” Chavis said. “So I knew he was going to be booking down the line. So I just tried to glove it and get rid of it as quick as I could. I made a good throw and Heineman did a good job of keeping the tag on him.”

In that situation, Shelton said it was nice to have a guy with a middle infielder’s background, like Chavis, over at first base.

“When you’ve got a guy who has got really good hands and you put him over there, his actions work really well over there,” Shelton said. “He has worked hard at the picks. He made a couple of nice picks today. But, overall, I think it is the way he moves his feet.”

Chavis had been in a 2-for-22 slump. And with young call-ups such as Oneil Cruz, Bligh Madris and Jack Suwinski getting so much attention of late, it’s taken a lot for Chavis to get back in the consciousness of Pirates fans.

Well, within that 30 minutes Shelton referenced, Chavis did exactly that on Thursday.