Trevor Williams, following a six-pitch walk in the first inning Tuesday night, lifted his right fist to his mouth and breathed deeply several times before stepping back onto the mound at PNC Park. With snow falling and the wind blowing from right to left field at 10 mph, dipping the wind chill to 26 degrees, Williams was trying to warm his hand to help him better grip the ball.
Rather than succumbing to the cold, the Pirates' starting pitcher chose to use it to his advantage. Williams utilized his sinker and changeup to force weak contact from Rockies hitters, and the strategy helped him pitch six effective innings; however, the weaknesses he exploited also ailed his own offense, and the Pirates mustered only five hits in a 2-0 loss.
The Pirates, now 11-6 and losers in three of their past five games, have averaged little more than two runs in that span. Clint Hurdle didn't want to "overcook" those recent struggles. Williams' six innings, though, made him beam.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS"This man has a feel to pitch beyond his years for me," Hurdle said. "He has a feel to pitch. Identifies what’s working, how it’s working, if it’s not working and then goes. He doesn't back down and doesn’t step off the gas and attacks. Whatever happens is going to happen."
Adjusting to the weather hasn't been easy for Williams, though. He's from San Diego, Calif., and played collegiately at Arizona State. Then, he was a second-round pick of the Marlins, rarely pitching in cold-weather climates until he was traded to the Pirates in October 2015.
The 25-year-old right-hander doesn't like to wear long compression sleeves, instead opting to brave the elements. His first three starts of the season were also in cold weather, and he has spoken in detail with Chad Kuhl, who attended the University of Delaware, on how best to prepare for weather such as this.
But preparing for the cold does little if he doesn't have the right plan of attack. The cold weather rendered his slider ineffective against the Rockies, although it produced one swinging strike. He didn't want to use his four-seamer, either. Knowing how miserable the Rockies (11-8) had to be, he chose to pitch to contact.
The result was only four hits allowed and seven ground-ball outs. He forced the Rockies to strand three runners, and one of the two runs scored against him came on a fielder's choice after his first-inning, one-out walk to Gerardo Parra.
"With that cold weather, it’s tough," he explained. "Guys are swinging early. No one likes standing in the box for too long in the cold, so we thought we could get some cheap outs that way with a sinker rollover or a changeup rollover."
Following the walk, Charlie Blackmon singled and a runner scored on a ground ball to Sean Rodriguez at second base. Williams then retired eight consecutive hitters before walking two batters in the fourth inning. Then, Trevor Story doubled to left field when he attempted to check his swing on a sinker low and outside the zone.
"I thought he pitched a very professional game, "Hurdle said. "Both the walks scratched him. The overall volume of work was good. The checked swing hurt. It’s a swing that stopped, and the ball lands in a place they can pick up two bases. That’s out of your control."
Williams got the Rockies to strand two runners on base in the fifth inning before retiring the side in order in the sixth, capped by this strikeout of Story on one of only nine sliders he threw all game:
Williams walked three batters and had four strikeouts, retiring nine hitters on three pitches or less. He has a 1.93 ERA in 23 1/3 innings through four starts with a 1.20 WHIP this season, but another impressive outing was spoiled by an offense that has gone cold. The Pirates had two infield singles and one extra-base hit. The Rockies' starter, Chad Bettis, needed only 85 pitches to get through 7 1/3 innings.
Josh Bell, Corey Dickerson and Francisco Cervelli went a combined 0 for 11. Gregory Polanco is in a 2-for-23 slump, striking out five times during that span. And the Pirates are batting .206 with 37 strikeouts and 10 walks since defeating the Cubs, 6-1, last Thursday afternoon in Chicago.
"That’s been the last couple days," Jordy Mercer, who went 2 for 3 with a double, said when asked if the slump is a product of bad luck. "We’ve got a little bit of momentum, but we can’t string three or four in a row or get that big inning. Yesterday, we had a little momentum, too, as well. We can’t string that big inning together like we have in Chicago or Miami."
The Pirates also spoiled two of their five opportunities against the Rockies. Williams, standing on first base with no outs after reaching on an infield single in the third inning, tagged and tried to advance to second base when Rodriguez flied out to the warning track in left, but Parra threw Williams out by five feet to convert the double play.
Mercer led off the eighth inning with a double and advanced to third base, only to be thrown out at home when trying to score on Rodriguez's ground ball to third base with one out.
"I was told anything but the pitcher, so," Mercer said when asked why he ran to home on the play.
Hurdle was mum on the decision, saying "If the ball is hit hard the third baseman is back to throw and it goes over but the ball rolled down the line. To push the envelope on that probably isn't our best play."
The loss dropped the Pirates' lead in the Central Division to 1 1/2 games, but recording outs on the bases and failing to make an impact at the plate did little to affect their outlook.
"We know we’re a good team," Mercer said. "We know what we’ve got to do. It’s matter of going out and doing it. It’s the way the game is. We’re trying to keep up with what we’re doing."
1. The cold had a real impact on the Pirates' hitting.
That's not so much a thought as it is an observation. The Pirates looked miserable. Both teams did. After all, it was difficult to see with the snow falling for the first three innings, and most players choose not to wear those compression sleeves. It can negatively impact flexibility, particularly at the plate.
Colin Moran tried to resist wearing them earlier in the season, only to change his mind once he noticed how difficult it was at the plate. Mercer offered a more thorough explanation, though. The Pirates became adjusted to the cold since they played most of their first 12 games in frigid temperatures, but a three-game trip to Miami made it far more difficult to return to Pittsburgh.
Mercer said players didn't necessarily want to get out of the batter's box as soon as possible, but it does negatively impact their approach at the plate.
"We were taking about it on the bench, it’s just hard to think about hitting when it’s just cold," Mercer said. "Your mind is trying to figure out how to stay warm, or this or that, and it’s snowing, so your vision is a little weird. That’s the biggest thing as hitters. It’s hard to think about hitting in the box when the temperature is like that."
2. Kudos to Williams for owning his mistake.
Hurdle took the high road when asked about Williams' baserunning error, simply classifying it as a miscommunication. But it was nothing more than a player trying to do too much. Williams explained to reporters that he thought the ball forced Parra so far back that he'd be able to take second base with a weak throw, but he then took ownership of the mistake.
The play was in front of him, so it wasn't as difficult to read as some other decisions to tag and try to advance. It didn't necessarily cost the Pirates the game, but it prevented Starling Marte, one of the team's hottest hitters, from coming to the plate with a runner on base.
"I thought I had it," he said. "It was hit deeply. I don’t get on the bases much. I need to do a better job of recognizing that, but I thought it was hit deep enough, and I was trying to do everything I could to get in scoring position, especially with the top of the lineup coming up. ... I just have to know I’m not a speed guy. I have to know, especially with the play in front of me, I have to read it. I have to read it better."
3. Santana put in a difficult situation, yet emerges unscathed.
Edgar Santana had not pitched for one week since he allowed two runs in 2/3 of an inning against the Cubs last Tuesday, but the right-hander threw two scoreless innings against the Rockies to keep the deficit at two runs. He threw 13 of his 22 pitches for strikes, relying mostly on his sinker and four-seam fastball, and it was only his second multi-inning appearance in the majors.
The 26-year-old relied on his four-seam fastball velocity and his wipeout slider throughout the minor leagues, but he's starting to show he's capable of getting hitters out via the ground ball. He got Bettis to ground out to end the fifth. Santana allowed a leadoff walk in the eighth, but he got three consecutive outs to end the inning, including a strikeout of Blackmon.
The Pirates need someone to emerge as a reliable option in middle relief. With the back end of the bullpen set, it's Santana who could determine just how good this bullpen could be in 2018.
"In spring training, they tried to give me two innings, but I couldn't finish it, so here I didn't think they'd let me go two," Santana said. "With the weather, you're not going to have your 96, 95. You have to try something else. I know my sinker is pretty good, and I tried it in the bullpen. It looked good, so I decided to go use it."
4. Good by Pirates to reward fans.
The game-time temperature was 34 degrees, and the 10 mph winds made it feel like 26. Fans used blankets to try to keep warm. Many dressed as if this was a football game at Heinz Field in October. The frigid conditions contributed to a crowd that was much smaller than the 8,869 tickets sold.
With a 12:35 p.m. first pitch Wednesday, one could make a sound argument this game should have been moved, but the Pirates made the right decision by rewarding the few fans who were actually in attendance Tuesday night with a "thank you" voucher, which could be used for a free lower-level seat at a future Monday through Thursday game. It was the right thing to do.
The franchise needs to buy back good will with the fanbase. Spending more than $0 in free agency would help matters, and something as small as this shouldn't be overlooked. Those who braved the football weather deserve to come back for free when it actually feels like baseball season.
5. Rodriguez batting leadoff makes sense, although it failed.
Rather than starting Adam Frazier at second and having him bat leadoff, Hurdle gave Rodriguez the start, and he didn't change the batting order. Rodriguez batted leadoff — he's done so only 16 times as a starter in his career — and went 0 for 4, but Hurdle's logic was sound. It would be silly to disrupt the chemistry of the rest of the order, and Frazier was in an 0-for-10 slump entering Tuesday.
Plus, right-handers have batted .301/.508/.860 against Bettis during his career.