Neal Huntington didn't get his wish. Huntington, shortly after finalizing the blockbuster of the non-waiver trade deadline, told Chris Archer he wanted the two-time All-Star on the mound at PNC Park to make his Pirates debut Wednesday night.
Archer, though, wanted to wait until Friday, when his parents, family and friends could be in Pittsburgh. "[Huntington] said, 'I want you on the mound against the Cubs, it's important to us,'" Archer, who will make his debut Friday, recalled during his introductory press conference. "But at the same time he understood all the moving pieces. ... And they are very accommodating."
They accommodated Archer's request by having Nick Kingham, the likely odd-man-out of the rotation, take the mound against a first-place opponent. And what unfolded powerfully illustrated why Huntington aggressively pursued two of the top pitchers available on the trade market.
With Archer watching from the dugout and Keone Kela yet to arrive, Kingham threw 51 pitches in a four-run first inning and Steven Brault walked five batters, leading to a 9-2 rout at the hands of the Cubs. The Pirates, now 56-53, dropped to seven games back in the Central Division and four in the Wild Card hunt.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEO"It was a crazy game," Francisco Cervelli said, shaking his head.
Following an unusually late start to Clint Hurdle's postgame press conference, Kingham was unavailable for comment in the home clubhouse. With an off-day Thursday, the 26-year-old right-handed starter is likely headed back to Triple-A Indianapolis, as the Pirates need to open a spot on the roster for Kela, a right-handed reliever who closed 24 games for the Rangers before he was acquired at the deadline.
Injuries and deadline deals left Hurdle with only six relievers Wednesday and forced him to start four bench players against the Cubs' top deadline acquisition: lefty Cole Hamels, a four-time All-Star and former World Series MVP. Hamels had nine strikeouts, and the Pirates went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
They also weren't equipped for a short start by Kingham.
Kingham, making his sixth start since taking the injured Chad Kuhl's spot in the rotation, allowed six of the first seven batters to reach safely in the first inning, although there was only one well-struck ball, a double off the Clemente Wall by Ben Zobrist.
Jason Heyward drove in the first run with a chopper to the mound, another scored when Javy Baez reached on an error by Sean Rodriguez to make it 2-0 and Kingham hit Ian Happ with a pitch.
Kingham, who lasted only three innings after a similar disaster at Dodger Stadium July 2, then caught Baez in a rundown between second and third. But his throw to David Freese sailed into foul territory, allowing Baez to score the Cubs' third run:
"Crazy, crazy," Cervelli said. "We didn’t make some plays. It could be different. The game was only three runs and then we couldn’t make it happen. I put down the wrong fingers."
The fourth run scored after back-to-back singles, then Kingham finally escaped by striking out Hamels and getting a pop fly by home plate. The inning included six three-ball counts, and Hamels was the only batter retired on fewer than four pitches, leading Hurdle to lift Kingham after only one inning.
Kingham has a 5.67 ERA over his last 11 starts, failing to pitch through the fourth inning in three of his last six. He's allowed 10 runs, eight of which were earned, in his last four innings.
"It was a rough first inning all the way around," Hurdle said. "Some balls weren’t hit hard, they were well-placed. We didn’t handle a ball well, and he’s got a guy caught and we weren’t able to execute a play. The overall execution wasn’t what we’ve seen from him in the past, either. To end up throwing 51 pitches one inning, that’s the reason he had to come out. That’s just too many pitches to push a guy back out there."
Brault, a starter who's been a long reliever in the bullpen since May 1, walked in two runs in the second inning, and he threw only 39 of his 68 pitches for strikes over three innings. Cubs hitters saw 102 pitches over the first three innings and they left eight on base in that span.
Brault, one of only two lefties in the Pirates' bullpen, has a 6.14 ERA with 26 walks to 25 strikeouts in his past 18 appearances. Although Kela fortifies an already solid back end, he doesn't necessarily address the Pirates' issues in middle relief. With Tyler Glasnow gone, Brault and Alex McRae, a starter with a 1.60 WHIP at Triple-A this season, are Hurdle's only relievers to turn to with such a short start.
"It’s the lack of command," Hurdle said. "Steven came in again and unfortunately, there’s a handful of walks in his outing. It’s a lot of three-ball counts, a lot of deep counts. When you look at a guy that’s got five walks and one strikeout that’s tough. He threw too many pitches, there’s no doubt."
Another middle relief option, Richard Rodriguez, allowed a two-run homer to Willson Contreras in the eighth and has been charged with multiple runs in two of his last four appearances. McRae, who made his major league debut Wednesday after not pitching in his first seven days of service time, was the Pirates' best pitcher Wednesday.
He allowed one run over three innings, striking out three with one walk. "I kind of blacked out for a little bit, to be honest," McRae said with a chuckle. "I think once I got on the mound and threw a couple pitches I settled in a little bit and got the first guy out, which helps a ton. I think after that it was a little bit easier."
When the game ended after three hours and 31 minutes, Pirates pitchers had thrown 206 pitches and allowed 15 hits with seven walks. Despite the seven earned runs, the Cubs (62-45) went only 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base. It spoiled Cervelli's three-hit performance and a day in which Huntington's prize deadline acquisition was celebrated.
Yet, reinforcements are arriving, and the one who could determine the Pirates' postseason fate will take the mound Friday against the Cardinals. "Happy to see him here with the same mission," Cervelli said of Archer. "We’ve got to infect this guy with what we have here. It’s a very charismatic guy, and I really like him."
1. Scary moment for Cervelli, but he's producing.
Bryan Housand, the Pirates' head athletic trainer, left the dugout in the first inning when Happ hit Cervelli on top of the catcher's mask with a backswing. After a brief conversation, Cervelli remained in the game and had three hits, including an RBI single later in the first, and a walk:
Cervelli, who's had four stints on the concussion disabled list in the past 15 months, including two this season, has seven hits since returning from his latest bout with post-concussion symptoms, and his presence at the plate the past two nights may be as encouraging as the front office's splashy deadline.
Elias Diaz, amid his first season as a full-time player on the big-league roster, is batting .295 with 25 RBIs in 46 starts this season, but Cervelli, the Pirates' highest-paid player, is signed through next season at a rate of $11.5 million. They can't get out from under the contract, so they need him to produce to either improve his trade value or to maximize the value.
He batted just .177 with a .671 OPS in his previous 32 games, and the Pirates likely received zero interest in Cervelli before the non-waiver deadline since all of his value is tied up in catching. This is now his third consecutive injury-shortened season, and it's reasonable to wonder if he's no longer an everyday catcher. That's why he took grounders at first before his latest DL stint.
But he's barreled up a few pitches over the past week, showing much better hand-eye coordination, which is an encouraging sign.
"I’m healthy," Cervelli said.
2. Harrison possibly irreplaceable.
Something's up with Josh Harrison. Harrison sat the first three games following the All-Star break while recovering from a hamstring strain and went 2 for 3 with a homer in his return in Cleveland. The plan was for him to play two out of every three games until the injury healed, but he didn't play Saturday or Sunday, despite there being a day off Monday.
He went 0 for 3 with a walk Tuesday, only to be out of the lineup again Wednesday, despite the off-day Thursday. The Pirates are likely being cautious with Harrison, but he's not the type to sit unless there's no other option. In Huntington's first weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan following the break, he said the Pirates fully intended to place Harrison on the DL following the hamstring injury that occurred in the final game before the All-Star Game.
Harrison, though, arrived in Cincinnati healthy enough to avoid that stint. Well, his status seems to have changed, and Hurdle had little to say when asked about it before the game Wednesday.
"There was another game he was involved in, a lot of activity last night," Hurdle said. "Multiple times in the infield, he had a couple of nice plays, he had a nice throw. We’ve got an opportunity that we’re not going to have very often to take another off day on the back side of this."
The Pirates are already without Josh Bell and Corey Dickerson, although the prognosis is promising for both, according to Todd Tomczyk, the club's director of sports medicine. Plus, they aren't exactly equipped to play without a middle infielder, as Rodriguez reminded all in the first inning when he committed this error and failed to make another play on an infield single:
Adam Frazier is removed late in games for a defensive replacement whenever he's at second.
3. Missing Dickerson.
The Pirates miss Dickerson in the worst way. In an attempt to maintain continuity in the lineup, Hurdle has used Jordan Luplow as the Pirates' leadoff hitter in five games. Luplow, the Pirates' Minor League Player of the Year in 2017, has started six of the last seven games and went 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts Wednesday night.
It was a great story July 14, when the recent callup homered twice in the second game of a doubleheader against the Brewers, stretching the Pirates' winning streak to five. He's hit just .170 in 41 at-bats since, including only one extra-base hit, and is only 3 for 20 as the club's leadoff hitter.
Dickerson was batting .383 with five home runs, 10 RBIs and a 1.314 OPS in 11 games as the Pirates' leadoff man. The left fielder batted .400 with a 1.253 OPS, six home runs and 12 RBIs in 18 games during July. He's also the leader of the most productive outfield in the majors. Entering Wednesday, the Pirates' outfield ranked first in the NL in OPS, slugging percentage, batting average and extra-base hits, while ranking third in home runs.
Dickerson's expected to return Saturday against the Cardinals, but the Pirates can't really afford another injury. On top of Luplow's struggles, Rodriguez is now 1 for 19 with 11 strikeouts since his solo home run July 22 against the Reds.
"He came back from the break really strong and it was a tough evening tonight for sure," Hurdle said of Rodriguez. "We’ve seen a little bit more of that. He’s working to try to figure some things out and we’re trying to give him the opportunity to figure some things out."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Pirates vs. Cubs, PNC Park, Aug. 1, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS