CINCINNATI — Still basking in the joy of a first big-league win, Tyler Glasnow pointed across the visitor's clubhouse to the empty locker of the man who guided him through his latest lesson as a professional.
"Go thank Ray," Glasnow said following the Pirates' 12-3 win over the Reds on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park. "He's helped me a ton."
It was Ray Searage who guided Glasnow after the 24-year-old right-handed pitcher walked the first two batters in the first inning, then allowed a three-run home run to Joey Votto. The pitching coach took his slow walk to the mound and simply reminded Glasnow of what the two had been working on for the past month.
The result: Five scoreless innings, five strikeouts, one walk and three hits allowed to finally earn his first 'W' in his ninth career start.
It also showed Glasnow and his teammates that first-inning implosions can be part of the learning process.
"It’s just good for him to show us, show everybody," Hurdle said. "His teammates are probably as important as everybody out there. It’s important that he goes out and he pitches and maintains that responsibility and accountability of the spot he’s got in the rotation."
Glasnow appeared to be a different pitcher after his brief conversation with Searage. He walked four batters in a 36-pitch first inning. After the chat, he needed just 11 pitches to strike out the side in the second, quickly working through his delivery and focusing on the slight adjustments he made with Searage.
That showed on his third strikeout of the second inning when he got Zack Cozart to chase this changeup out of the zone:
He described the process of simplifying his approach and trusting his physical gifts after he reverted back to old habits in the first:
