With three runs in and only one out in the first inning, pitching coach Ray Searage and Francisco Cervelli walked to the mound to talk to Nick Kingham. Kingham, a 26-year-old rookie who had been recalled earlier Saturday to make a spot start, had just allowed three consecutive doubles and all three came when he threw a four- or two-seam fastball.
With the Padres sitting on fastballs, the three decided to attack them with changeups, curveballs and sliders. Kingham proceeded to retire 17 of the final 19 batters he faced to keep the deficit at three runs; however, the Pirates' offense couldn't make hard contact against Clayton Richard until the seventh inning and the bullpen allowed three runs in a 6-2 loss at PNC Park.
Kingham is likely headed back to Triple-A Indianapolis as early as Sunday, yet his third start for the Pirates again proved to Clint Hurdle he is capable of pitching in the major leagues.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEO"There are things that are in his control," Hurdle said of Kingham. "Once he gets where he's going to pitch, the opportunity to pitch at the major leagues, that's kind of why we've done this — to get him some experience. I think he's handled it well. ... I think with what he's learned through the perseverance and the challenges to get here, he should be in a good place. He's showing he can go and get outs up here."
The Pirates, now 26-19 and 1 1/2 games back of the first-place Brewers in the Central Division, will try to earn a series split against the Padres (19-28) Sunday afternoon.
Kingham, a fourth-round draft pick of the Pirates in 2010, retired the first 20 batters he faced in his major league debut against the Cardinals on April 29, striking out nine in seven scoreless innings. It earned him another start against the Brewers five days later, and he gave up one run through five innings before allowing three in the sixth.
The Pirates chose to demote Kingham in favor of Jose Osuna, going with a four-man rotation since they had three days off in one week. He started one game in Triple-A; however, Indianapolis had a scheduled day off Monday, which forced the team to send Kingham to Double-A for one start so he could remain on schedule for this spot start against the Padres.
Kingham said the unusual schedule wasn't a problem, but he didn't look sharp after taking the mound in the first inning Saturday. He walked Eric Hosmer on four pitches before allowing those three consecutive doubles, including this two-run line drive down the left-field line by shortstop Jose Pirela:
Immediately following the mound visit, Kingham threw a first-pitch fastball to get ahead of Freddy Galvis, then five of his next six pitches were breaking balls, including a slider for a foul-tip strikeout.
"We had a game plan going in," Kingham said. "It seemed like they combatted it right away. I tried to go in on the inner part of the plate. They were hunting fastballs, jumping all over it, so we kind of slowed them up toward the rest of the game. Mixed the pitches a little bit more just to play chess with what they were doing."
Kingham needed 25 pitches to get through the first inning. He threw only 12 pitches in the first inning of his major league debut. Unlike his first start when he relied on his slider, Kingham relied on his changeup to keep the Padres off his fastball. He used the pitch to strike out Hosmer to end the second inning and again to get Cordero swinging to lead off the third.
Although Kingham threw 50 four-seam fastballs, four of his 17 changeups produced swinging strikes. He also threw 13 sliders and 10 curveballs. To compare, he threw only 16 changeups in his first two starts combined. Kingham, with an explicit goal to keep attacking, struck out Christian Villanueva with a curveball to end the third inning.
He allowed only one hit after the third inning — a ground-ball single to left by Yasmil Reyes in the fourth — and got seven ground-ball outs in his final three innings. Kingham was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth after throwing 61 of his 98 pitches for strikes, striking out five with one walk.
"Keep attacking," Kingham said. "Don’t let up. You can’t start nibbling because your pitch count gets up. I think I threw 25 in the first inning. It was up there, so I knew I had to get outs right away. Keep attacking, keep throwing strikes and hopefully they start hitting it to somebody. … Keep being the aggressor and have them put the ball in play."
Meanwhile, the Pirates' offense kept hitting the ball to somebody. Richard, who was with the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate in 2015 before being traded to the Cubs, retired 14 of the first 21 batters he faced on two pitches or less. He generated 12 ground-ball outs through six innings, including two double plays.
The Pirates didn't get an extra-base hit until the seventh inning, when Josh Bell tripled to right-center, but he was stranded there when Corey Dickerson grounded out to first. They scored two runs on Richard in the eighth to cut the deficit to two, but George Kontos allowed two runs in the ninth as the Bucs lost their second game in a row.
Kingham is likely the odd man out with Josh Harrison being activated from the disabled list Sunday. After all, Joe Musgrove, the right-handed starter acquired from the Astros in the Gerrit Cole trade, is expected to rejoin the rotation and start sometime next week, possibly Thursday against the Reds in Cincinnati.
Kingham pitched through the sixth inning in two of his three starts and struck out 21 with only two walks for a 0.76 WHIP in 18 1/3 innings. Meanwhile, Musgrove gave up six runs on 10 hits in his final rehab start for Triple-A Indianapolis on Friday and has struggled as a starter in his career. Kingham, though, told reporters he isn't focused on where he's pitching next or how other pitchers on the Pirates' roster are performing.
"You can control what you’ve got to control," Kingham said. "I’m out there competing with myself. I know if I don’t throw good pitches it doesn’t matter what anybody else does. It’s myself that’s going to be on the short end of the stick."
Richard, a 34-year-old left-hander, entered the game with a 5.20 ERA, but he was coming off his best start of the season, striking out 10 in eight innings against the Cardinals. He throws a slider to complement his sinker and isn't afraid to challenge hitters with his four-seam fastball.
Like the Pirates' starters, he tries to get ahead in the count with his fastball and wants to force weak contact. Falling behind to him can present challenges since he can command his breaking pitches, too. So, like the Padres' approach against Kingham, the Pirates wanted to swing early in the count against Richard's fastball.
The strategy backfired.
"He was sinking it, locating it well," Jordy Mercer, who went 3 for 3, said. "Getting the ball on the ground. That’s his repertoire. He was just doing what he wanted. Threw a lot of strikes, so we had to be aggressive. He was getting the ball on the ground. That’s what he likes to do."
The Pirates entered the game with the second-lowest ground-ball rate in the majors, yet quick ground outs allowed Richard to throw only 67 pitches through seven innings. Jose Osuna and Francisco Cervelli, batting second and third, respectively, went a combined 0 for 8.
They didn't get a runner in scoring position until the seventh inning when Bell lined this ball to right-center, past a diving Manuel Margot for a two-out triple:
They finally broke through in the eighth when David Freese hit a leadoff double, followed by an RBI single from Mercer. Elias Diaz, pinch-hitting for Tyler Glasnow, then singled to force Richard from the game. Sean Rodriguez followed with an RBI double over Margot's head in center field to cut the deficit to two, but Craig Stammen struck out Osuna and got Cervelli to fly out to left to strand two runners on base.
"We’ve seen a lot of tape on him," Hurdle said of Richard. "His last outing was pretty much a carbon copy of this outing. ... He’s coming after you. He’s sinking the ball away. The changeup. A little spin pitch and then he’s shoving it in glove-side. Getting behind probably isn’t in your best interest, either. Talked about looking out over the plate to get something. He was able to keep tough balls in, he mixed it up and he stayed off the barrel. We tried a couple different things, but we weren’t able to push him until late."
The Pirates have stranded 17 on base over the past two games while going a combined 4 for 21 with runners in scoring position.
2. More of the same from Glasnow.
Glasnow has pitched better in a relief role, despite his team-high 5.96 ERA in 22 2/3 innings. His ground-ball rate entering Saturday ranked second among Pirates relievers, and he owned a respectable 3.32 xFIP. However, twice he's allowed four or more runs in an outing, and his 13.8 percent walk rate is the worst on the 25-man roster.
He's commanded his fastball more often, yet he's still making too many mistakes, as he showed Saturday against the Padres. Glasnow, who entered in the seventh, struck out Raffy Lopez with a curveball in the dirt, only to allow back-to-back hits to put runners on the corners with two outs.
Glasnow then got a ground out to end the threat. He recorded two quick outs in the eighth, striking out Franchy Cordero with a 97 mph four-seamer high and inside, but Glasnow's two-seamer over the plate was hit over the wall in left by Christian Villanueva for a solo home run, giving the Padres a 4-0 lead.
Despite allowing what proved to be an important run, Hurdle expressed optimism over Glasnow's improvement when pitching with runners on base.
"I do, I do think he’s settling down," Hurdle said of Glasnow. "The heartbeat seems to be a little bit slower. I thought he had good stuff tonight. The one fastball to Villanueva he threw in his swing path. The guy’s hit a few homers this year. But I thought overall he’s continuing to learn and to grow out there. … I think there’s development going on."
3. Sorting through the lineup.
Before Hurdle wrote down his lineup for Friday night's game, he first approached Dickerson to see if the left fielder was opposed to batting third after being in the five-hole for 36 games. Starling Marte batted third this season until landing on the 10-day disabled list this week, and Hurdle didn't want to use Austin Meadows there in his major league debut.
Dickerson accepted the assignment and delivered two hits, but Hurdle used Cervelli in the three-hole Saturday with a lefty starter on the mound.
Cervelli went 0 for 4 and Bell, the cleanup hitter, did not have a runner on base in any of his four at-bats. Hurdle has tried to maintain a consistent lineup, so he doesn't have to move Bell, Dickerson, Marte, Polanco or Cervelli. However, injuries have forced him to get creative, and it will require trial and error until they are back at full strength.
"I’m still wary of moving guys around," Hurdle said. "I don’t have that freedom of movement that some other people do, that doesn’t matter, you can just move them around and there’s a certain lineup that should work today and there’s a lineup that should work tomorrow. As a player, I never felt that way – I wasn’t good enough to feel that way. But there were spots I was more comfortable in, and when you do get moved, sometimes you like to know why. Is it lack of production? Is it a matchup? Just to work on your own personal game. And sometimes I think that dynamic can play out significantly in who hits behind who, who hits in front of who. Cervelli’s on-base numbers have always been good, his numbers against left-handers the past few years have been extremely good."