Pirates snap slide to open season-defining week

Francisco Cervelli called for the curveball when Nick Kingham was on the verge of faltering. Kingham's first to the Phillies' Nick Williams produced a swinging strike. The third was thrown in the dirt for the second out of the sixth inning.

The fifth produced the same result: a swinging strike three. That sequence stranded two on base, and the bullpen pitched three scoreless innings as the Pirates avoided a series sweep with a 4-1 win Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. Kingham, making his eighth big-league start of the season, struck out five and drove in two runs with a double.

That gutsy performance by a young pitcher snapped a five-game losing streak in which the Pirates were outscored 51-15, but they're running out of time to show their bosses they're capable of contending in the National League. With eight games in seven days against the Nationals and first-place Brewers before the All-Star Break, Neal Huntington told reporters before the first pitch this next week could determine whether he tears down the roster he built.

"We've got to win series," Cervelli, who returned from the disabled list Sunday, said. "We have to play better. I don’t know what Neal is looking for with the trade deadline, but we’ve just gotta win. That’s the only way we can be in the hunt."

Kingham allowed only one extra-base hit — a solo home run to Nick Williams in the fourth inning — and threw 55 of his 84 pitches for strikes. He allowed only four hits and a walk in six innings, while Edgar Santana, Kyle Crick and Felipe Vazquez combined for seven strikeouts.

Meanwhile, the offense produced nine hits, at least one from eight of the nine starters, and it all began with Cervelli, one of the veterans Huntington may trade by the end of the month. Cervelli drove an elevated fastball from the Phillies' Drew Anderson off the wall in right-center field for a one-out double in the second.

Austin Meadows then reached on a fielding error, followed by an RBI single to center from Josh Harrison. Kingham's only costly mistake of the afternoon occurred in the fourth, when he threw a hanging changeup to Williams, whose home run landed 421 feet away from home plate to tie the score.

Kingham made up for it, though. Meadows hit a one-out single later in the fourth, and Jordy Mercer, facing two strikes, singled to left. Then, with the Phillies' outfield playing in, Kingham, who had not recorded an extra-base hit since Double-A in 2016, connected with this hanging slider:

That scored Meadows and Mercer for a 3-1 lead, and Josh Bell followed with this blooper down the right-field line that bounced over the wall in foul territory for an RBI double:

Cervelli then guided Kingham and the bullpen to their first win in seven days. After a scoreless fifth inning, Kingham allowed a leadoff single in the sixth, followed by a seven-pitch walk to Odubel Herrera. With Edgar Santana starting to warm in the bullpen, Cervelli chose to call for the curveball.

"It was another pitch they didn’t see," Cervelli said. "It’s tough. This guy bounced the curveball. It’s tough to hit and they are young hitters. They are aggressive."

Kingham got Carlos Santana to fly out on a high fastball near the hands before he struck out Williams with a curveball in the dirt. He then struck out Scott Kingery on three pitches, including this curveball for strike three:

Kingham, 26, produced 16 swinging strikes, including five each with his fastball, curveball and slider. He also induced seven ground-ball outs and only three of the Phillies' 17 balls in play had an exit velocity over 100 mph. "It’s a good bounce back," Kingham, who allowed five runs in a 17-1 loss to the Dodgers last Monday, said. "It’s a good refresher for myself and my team. Kick-start everything in the right direction. Going forward, I think it’s going to be good for everybody."

The Pirates' pitching staff combined for 24 strikeouts and two walks, one of which was intentional, in the final two games of the series. Cervelli is healthy, Starling Marte has reached safely in nine of his last 14 plate appearances and Corey Dickerson has gone 13 for 35 in his last 11 games.

But the Pirates are still seven games under .500, 41-48, and 12 1/2 games back in the Central Division — only 2 1/2 up on the last-place Reds. They are also nine games back in the Wild Card with five teams to pass, including the Nationals.

They'll host Washington for three games beginning Monday before playing five games in four days against the first-place Brewers, including a doubleheader Saturday. Failing to gain ground in the standings before the All-Star Break, Huntington said, will shift the front office's focus to selling.

"You don’t want to overemphasize what a week can mean, but this is one of those weeks where four-and-four doesn’t do us much good," he said. "We need to make up some ground here in a short period of time. We need to show that we can continue to do that. Otherwise we get to the point in time where we start to take a realistic look at this club. Look at the young players we do like."

Mercer will be a free agent this offseason, while Cervelli, the club’s highest-paid player, is under contract through next season at $11.5 million. Harrison has team options for 2019 and 2020 at $10.5 and $11.5 million, respectively, although there’s a buyout for both seasons.

David Freese has one team option remaining at $6 million with a $500,000 buyout. Dickerson, who’s making $5.95 million this season, is arbitration-eligible and won’t become a free agent until 2020. Harrison and Mercer have been asked about their futures with such frequency they've spoken to each other about the rumors and come to the same conclusion.

"Regardless of what’s said in the past, there’s nothing we can do to control that," Harrison said. "We have to keep showing up. … I said, it can be one pitch, one game, one series that can turn things around. Baseball is a game you can’t predict. Looking down the line here the next week or two weeks it’s something we know we just have to show up and try to right the ship. If we all play together, well, anything can happen.

"I’ve been here, it’s my seventh season. Me and Jordy talk quite a bit that it’s been seven years. It’s gone fast. At the same time, we keep getting questions, but we don’t even think about it."

1. Cervelli makes immediate impact.

Elias Diaz proved he's capable of starting in the major leagues. The 27-year-old has batted .302 with seven home runs and 23 RBIs in 35 starts, while showing his game-calling has made significant strides since the start of last season. Cervelli's impact can't be overlooked, though.

In addition to his double, Cervelli stole second base after drawing a leadoff walk in the eighth inning. He also navigated Kingham through his best start since his major league debut, and he brings a unique energy to the field, too.

"It was a good day for him in a lot of different ways," Hurdle said. "That’s easy to say. We’ll see how it plays out. ... Offensively, he contributed. Defensively, he contributed in his own fun way. Created his own opportunity stealing a base. … It’s good to have him back."

He may not be around for long, though. Cervelli is the Pirates' highest-paid player. As important, though, he's their most valuable trade chip. There are several contenders in need of a starting catcher, including the Nationals, and Cervelli is under contract through next season. His injury history could scare off some suitors or drive the price down, yet it's difficult to see him sticking around beyond this month.

After all, the difficult week ahead could be this team's undoing. It would be a mistake to trade him, though. The Pirates wouldn't have a capable backup catcher, and it's difficult to measure the impact Cervelli has on this pitching staff. He was their best hitter for the first seven weeks of the season and is so important in the clubhouse.

"Yeah, it’s going to take some time to get back to 100 percent," Cervelli said when asked if he was pleased with his first game back. "Health-wise it’s good. Really good."

2. Better to trust the starter than one of those relievers.

Sometimes your best option in the sixth or seventh inning is your starter. Neither Hurdle nor Huntington thought Jameson Taillon should have continued to pitch Saturday after allowing the tying run to score on his 77th pitch. Jorge Alfaro's go-ahead RBI double on the very next pitch didn't change their mind, either.

Huntington cited Taillon's past performance when facing a hitter the third time through the order — including an .837 OPS — and Santana's previous success against right-handed hitters. Sometimes it's best to ignore past numbers and make those decisions based on how the starter has performed in that game, as Hurdle did Sunday with Kingham.

While Hurdle chose to have Santana warm up at the start of the seventh Friday, he didn't have anyone warming with Kingham at 62 pitches to begin the sixth. Kingham had a 1.122 OPS against his third time through the order — however, he had allowed only one extra-base hit and seemingly made only one bad pitch.

Hurdle didn't get a pitcher warming until after the first two batters reached, and Kingham repaid that trust by getting three consecutive outs, including a pair of strikeouts to end the threat.

"Ray [Searage] really liked his curveball in the sixth," Hurdle said. "Obviously, we all did, because it became a push inning for him. He threw some really good curveballs to back-to-back hitters to end that inning. ... He bowed up in the sixth when he needed to, so it was a very effective outing as well."

3. Marte's move proving wise.

Remember when the Pirates first shifted Marte to center field? Andrew McCutchen wasn't pleased with the decision, and Marte's suspension ruined the plan before it was truly implemented. Well, now you're seeing why they first chose to make that move.

Marte has all the tools to be one of the best center fielders in baseball. He'll make boneheaded mistakes from time to time but there are few, if any, who can match his combination of speed and athleticism, as he displayed again Sunday afternoon. He made a pair of sliding catches in the fourth inning to rob the Phillies of base hits, one of which kept the bases clear before Williams hit his home run.

Ignore some of the advanced metrics — including a negative-3 defensive runs saved — and watch the plays Marte can make that few others can. Oh, and he bunted for a single twice. This roster will likely look drastically different in a few weeks. Huntington will surely unload veterans such as Mercer and Freese, while then relying on younger players such as Kevin Newman. If there's a silver lining, it's that Marte is under contract for three more seasons.

Now that's a player you can build around.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY