Zach Thompson joins parade of Pirates pitchers stringing together strong starts

Zach Thompson watched in awe Thursday at Miami’s loanDepot Park when Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz rifled a throw across the infield at 97.8 mph.

Faster than any of the 100 pitches Thompson threw in the Pirates’ 3-2, 11-inning loss to the Marlins. Faster than any throw — by any MLB infielder — in the StatCast era (since 2015).

“I need to ask him how he holds (the baseball),” Thompson said, “see if he can help me.”

Actually, Thompson and some of his mound mates have been helping ease the load on a stressed bullpen in recent games.

In three games this week against the Marlins, Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker and Thompson pitched into the seventh inning. Brubaker and Keller finished the inning; Thompson was pulled with two outs.

Nothing pleases Pirates manager Derek Shelton more than effective, stretched-out performances from his starters, especially as the baseball season passes the halfway mark.

So far this month, Shelton likes what he sees. Since July 2 (13 games), Pirates starters have recorded a 2.90 ERA in 71 1/3 innings, with 61 strikeouts and 19 walks.

The bad news, however, is that the Pirates won only seven of those 13 games. They were shut out twice and scored more than three runs in only one of those six losses. They scored four Wednesday — and needed 10 innings to do so after recording just one run through the first eight.

During the Miami series this week, Pirates starters allowed one run or fewer in each of the four games. That hasn’t happened in a four-game series since Aug. 16-19, 2018, against the Chicago Cubs.

Without a lot of support from teammates who swing the bats, Keller, Brubaker and Thompson gave the Pirates opportunities to win all three games, even though they lost two. They worked 20 2/3 innings, surrendering 12 hits, five walks and two runs.

Keller’s seven complete innings represented the longest outing of his major-league career, and he didn’t walk a batter in the 5-1 victory Monday.

Brubaker’s seven-inning, nine-strikeout, three-hit shutout effort Wednesday offered hope for the three-year veteran’s future. But it turned into a 5-4 loss when relievers Duane Underwood Jr. and All-Star David Bednar gave up five runs (four earned), four hits, two walks and a wild pitch in 1 2/3 innings.

Although the results don’t show up in the standings — where the Pirates (38-52) are third in the National League Central — ERAs recorded by Keller, Brubaker and Thompson have fallen over the past 2 ½ months.

Since the end of April, Keller is down to 4.88 from 6.62, Brubaker is at 4.02 from 6.20 and Thompson at 4.09 from 10.05.

Thompson’s improvement has been the most dramatic. He has allowed no more than two earned runs in 11 of his past 12 starts. He solved the Marlins, his former team, through most of 6 2/3 innings Thursday, giving up one run, four hits and three walks.

Pitching against the team that gave him his first major-league opportunity in 2021, he walked two of the first three Marlins batters (a double play saved him) before he settled down to throw three 1-2-3 innings.

“It was a little weird. Little nervous in the first inning or two,” he said. “But after that, (I told myself) to calm down and keep going. I talked to (pitching coach) Oscar (Marin). After the second inning, we figured some stuff out and he was telling me, ‘You just have to throw strikes. Go out there and do your thing. Don’t worry about mechanics. Don’t worry about results. Just throw strikes.’

“We were able to calm me down a little bit and be a lot more efficient.”

Pitching, like many athletic endeavors, is as much mental as physical, Thompson said.

“Whenever you’re out there and you’re thinking about your mechanics or whatever it is,” Thompson said, “being able to just slow down and get back to the basics is a really big point with me.”

Recording outs in the seventh inning for the first time in his two-year career meant a lot to Thompson. Shelton allowing him to do it meant even more.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now,” Thompson said. “I’m glad Shelty trusts me to do that. I felt really good. Hopefully, I can keep doing it.”

He won’t get another chance until after the All-Star break, possibly in the Marlins series at PNC Park next weekend.

The Pirates are in Denver, Colo., for three games starting Friday, with Jose Quintana on the mound. Quintana surrendered four runs in 4 1/3 innings Sunday in Milwaukee but a total of four in his three previous starts.