Nova getting 'back to what he does'

"They took it away from us," Ivan Nova proclaimed, standing in front of his locker stall after one of his finest performances in a Pirates uniform. Nova, the leader of the pitching staff, struck out eight over eight scoreless innings at PNC Park, and he held a first-place lineup to only three hits.

In addition to his mastery, the bullpen allowed only one earned run and added five strikeouts. The top three hitters in the Diamondbacks' lineup went a combined 3 for 17. It was all for naught. Nova's offense struck out a season-high 17 times and managed only four hits in 13 innings of a 2-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on Friday night.

“It’s not easy to take, man," Nova said, stoically. "A game like this, we should be able to get it. We should be able to get a win. I did my part, trying to give my team a chance to win a game. We had some opportunities to win, and we didn’t win the game when we got the chance."

Such a dreadful offensive performance has become the norm around Major League Baseball. However, the Pirates have represented an outlier all season. Although they've struggled over the past six weeks, they are one of only four National League teams with more hits than strikeouts.

They had their worst performance of the season when Nova was at his best, and their defense committed three errors in the ninth inning or later. The Pirates, now 36-38 and nine games back in the Central Division, have lost three of their last four games.

Nova nearly pitched them out of a slump, though. He retired 13 batters on three pitches or fewer, didn't walk a batter and Diamondbacks left-handed hitters went a combined 0 for 18 against him.

It gets better. Nova retired 12 in a row to finish his outing, striking out five in that span. He needed only four pitches to get through the eighth inning and twice forced the Diamondbacks (42-33) to strand a runner on third. Oh, and he threw 67 percent of his pitches for strikes and forced nine ground-ball outs.

"Ivan was awesome," Clint Hurdle said. "That’s a third straight start, but this one was as good as any game we’ve seen him pitch. Back to what he does ... really strong performance."

Nova has a 0.92 ERA in three starts since coming off the disabled list. In the end, it didn't matter. Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin struck out a career-high 12 batters — half the batters he faced — and also allowed only three hits through six innings. Austin Meadows reached third base on a single, stolen base and wild pitch in the first, but he was stranded there, and the Pirates didn't have another runner reach scoring position until the 11th inning.

Corbin retired 13 in a row from the first through the fifth inning and struck out eight during that span. "His combination was good," Elias Diaz said of Corbin. "He mixed the pitches — with fastball, with slider and curveball — good. And he got results."

That would be an understatement. He produced 25 swinging strikes, 21 with his slider. Meadows accounted for two of the three hits against Corbin. Meanwhile, Josh Harrison, Starling Marte, David Freese, Elias Diaz and Jose Osuna went a combined 0 for 13 with seven strikeouts against him, including this effort by Marte with a runner on second in the first inning:

Their lone run in the 11th inning was the result of three walks, one of which was intentional, and a throwing error to home plate on a ground ball hit by Marte. It was their worst offensive performance of the season, and it followed a league-wide trend.

Entering Friday's games, teams across MLB were on pace to record more strikeouts than hits this season. To compare, the league had a combined 43,524 hits against 33,591 strikeouts in 2009. Teams have combined to strike out in 22.4 percent of all plate appearances, and the average time between balls in play was three minutes, 45 seconds.

The Pirates have scored three or fewer runs in nine of 22 games this month, and they're batting .231 since May 17. They now have scored only seven runs in their last 39 innings.

"We had four hits at the end of the night," Hurdle said. "We were fighting. The hitters were up there feeling it. ... The fight was on. We created opportunities to put ourselves on the other side of the game. We didn’t do it. There’s going to be nights where their pitching is going to get the best of you as a hitter. Good pitching is hard to hit. This team pitches pretty well over there."

Felipe Vazquez and Kyle Crick each pitched a scoreless inning after Nova was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the eighth. The Diamondbacks finally broke the scoreless tie in the 11th when Jon Jay and Jake Lamb singled off Edgar Santana. With two outs, Ketel Marte hit a slow roller in front of home plate and Elias Diaz did this:

That throwing error allowed one run to score. However, the Pirates answered in the bottom half with three walks and Marte's one-hopper to Lamb, who short-armed a throw home, allowing Gregory Polanco to slide under Jeff Mathis's glove to tie the score. They couldn't score the winning run, though.

David Freese struck out, and Diaz hit a weak grounder to second, stranding the bases loaded. They had two on with two outs in the 12th, only for Harrison to hit a pop fly to second.

"We need to play better," Hurdle said. "I continue to say it. We’ll continue to work at it."

A single, a wild pitch and another single by Ketel Marte off Tyler Glasnow in the 13th gave the Diamondbacks a lead they wouldn't relinquish. The Pirates were retired in order in the 13th to end another loss. 

There were 377 pitches thrown during the three-hour, 51-minute game. The two teams combined for 30 strikeouts, eight walks and 12 hits. And the man who was almost flawless against 27 batters he faced thought there was no excuse for the Pirates to not escape with a win.

"We missed that opportunity," he said.

1. The defense was brutal late.

The Pirates nearly fumbled the game away. First, Vazquez was unable to handle a one-hopper to the mound in the ninth, giving the Diamondbacks a baserunner with one out. With two outs, David Peralta then hit a pop fly to shallow left that dropped behind Jordy Mercer, who accidentally kicked the ball past Meadows in left field.

Vazquez was able to get Ketel Marte to ground out to end the inning. Then, with two outs in the 11th, Diaz chose to force a throw to first, rather than faking a throw or holding the ball to load the bases. "Tough play," Diaz said afterward. "I tried to be aggressive with the ball. I know the runner was Marte. He can run. That's why I tried to be aggressive with the play."

It was Diaz's fourth error in 22 starts this season, and he nearly threw a ball into left field earlier in the game. It contributed to the Pirates wasting a solid performance by Nova. The 31-year-old produced seven called strikes with his curveball, including a strikeout of Paul Goldschmidt in the sixth inning. He allowed a leadoff double to Nick Ahmed in the fifth, only to retire the next three batters he faced.

The Diamondbacks threatened, but Nova either received help from his defense or executed with one of his four pitches. Hurdle appeared to be more frustrated with the lapses on defense than with what occurred on offense.

"We try to make a play that probably wasn’t there, if we look at the video tape and we walk Elias through it," Hurdle said. "Maybe fake a throw and just hold it. The ball is in the infield. Where it goes, some learning opportunities for us to learn from and get better. But at the end of the day, our defensive awareness almost cost us."

2. Marte's catch kept it scoreless.

Starling Marte is among the best in the league on defense. He ranks 10th in the majors in outs above average, a range-based metric of fielding skill that accounts for the number of plays made and the difficulty of them. It was fair to wonder how he would transition to being the everyday center fielder, and it was ugly at times during the first three months of the season.

Yet, there are few who can make a catch like this:

Few can cover so much ground is so little time. The catch prevented Mathis from scoring in the third inning, and Nova responded by retiring 15 of the next 16 batters he faced. According to Statcast's catch probability leaderboard — which measures the likelihood for a ball to be caught by an outfielder based on opportunity time, distance needed and direction — Marte has three five-star catches this season. That's tied for the second most in the majors this season.

3. Diaz ready to start ... well, sort of. 

Francisco Cervelli was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list Friday after he reported symptoms to the team's medical staff the night before. Diaz will assume the role of starting catcher, and it's one he's well-equipped to fill, at least on offense. Diaz, 27, has batted .321 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in 22 starts this season. Also, he has batted .462 against lefties and .289 with runners in scoring position.

That's a remarkable improvement from last season, when he slashed .239/.277/.344 with one home run and 19 RBIs in 44 starts. It's also important to remember that Cervelli has batted only .188 in 22 games since May 17, so the dropoff on offense shouldn't be significant.

However, for as much as Diaz has improved behind the plate, he still isn't as experienced as Cervelli.

Every Pirates starter has mentioned how valuable it is to have Cervelli behind the plate. He has an innate ability to read swings and change the game plan accordingly. He's also very good at knowing how to slow down these young pitchers whenever the game speeds up on them.

For example, Steven Brault walked three left-handed hitters in the fourth inning Thursday night. Cervelli noticed Brault was going too fast, so he slowed him down.

"Cervelli knows what he's doing, knows what he's talking about," Brault said. "I know part of what makes me good is my aggressiveness. I have quicker pace, that's just how it works, but it can work against me. Last night, in the second inning, I let it. When we were in the dugout before the third inning, I was in the dugout with Ray [Searage] and Cervi, and Cervi was like, 'Hey, in between every pitch you're going to stop, we're going to hold for a few seconds, and then we're going to go. So, each pitch is completely separate.' If you watch the video, you'll see him crouching back with his mask off, take a second, pull it back on and call another sign. In between every pitch. ... That made me feel like me again."

That's only one of many examples I've heard this season alone. You don't hear the same comments being made about Diaz. The pitchers love him and his game-calling has improved significantly. However, Cervelli knows how to get the most out of each pitcher.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY