To his teammates, Joe Musgrove goes by the nickname "Moose." Unfortunately for the Pirates of late, his name may as well have been preceded by the words "Hard-luck loser."
That's because Musgrove, who hadn't won a game since July 24, had been the victim of circumstances largely beyond his control. The things that the big right-hander could control, he did.
He'd gone six-plus innings in his last three starts but failed to come away with a 'W' on the boxscore in any. Of course, Musgrove's plight isn't unique to just him. Ask Trevor Williams. Or Ivan Nova. The Pirates had been blanked 1-0 in their previous two games despite some stellar starting pitching performances.
On Saturday, Musgrove was finally rewarded for his efforts as the Pirates snapped a season-high five-game losing skid with a 3-1 win over the Central-leading Cubs before 35,100 at PNC Park.
But the pitcher with the lowest ERA of anyone in the rotation at 3.31 has just a 5-7 record to show for it.
“I’m going out there and giving us a chance to win and that’s all you can ask for as a pitcher," Musgrove was saying afterward. "I feel like I’ve done that the last couple of times out. It’s not so much the wins and losses but the quality of the outings.”
Saturday's performance certainly would qualify as a quality outing.
As he's been through most of his first season in Pittsburgh, Musgrove was outstanding. He went seven innings while giving up just one run on five hits and striking out seven.
"We're getting to know more about the guy we acquired in the off-season through this season," Clint Hurdle was saying. "He's pitched much better than his record.
"The desire to compete, the conviction to throw pitches and mix things up, working well with Cervelli, there wasn't a lot shaking (off pitches) going on. The rhythm and tempo was really good. Just continue to watch him develop."
And yet there was a time when some questioned whether Musgrove had the stuff to be a dependable pitcher whom you could hand the ball over to every fifth day. When he won a World Series last year with the Houston Astros, he did so coming out of the bullpen.
But since being converted back to a starter after coming over in the Gerrit Cole trade, Musgrove has shown he can not only start games, but that he can pitch deep into them. He has now gone seven-plus innings in six of his last eight starts.
The difference between this year and last, Musgrove said, is that he is working on a set schedule and can prepare accordingly:
“It has definitely helped my development in having a set schedule that allows more work days, more recovery days and the time to prepare myself for each start," he said. "In the bullpen, it fit my mentality and personality to go out and compete, not plan things and just worry about what’s happening and reacting to it. But I enjoy being in the starting rotation. It’s where I feel I have the most to offer.”
Musgrove's teammates clearly appreciate the work that he has put in, but also the way he competes. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound 25-year-old has a presence on the mound, as Corey Dickerson was explaining:
On Saturday, Musgrove had strong command of his four-pitch repertoire and leaned heavily on his changeup, "the separator" as Hurdle called it. He not only worked ahead in the count all night, he even worked with -- get this -- a lead.
The Pirates got that in the home half of the second when they ended their 24-inning scoreless drought by scoring all three of their runs off Chicago starter Tyler Chatwood.
As good as Musgrove was, yeah, Chatwood was the opposite of that.
Forced back into the Chicago rotation with Mike Montgomery going on the DL, Chatwood again struggled mightily with his control.
Chatwood has now issued a grotesque 93 bases on balls -- an astonishing 18 more than the cross-town White Sox' Lucas Giolitto -- in just 101.2 innings to lead all of the major leagues.
He offered up two more walks to Josh Bell and Francisco Cervelli to lead off the second and Adam Frazier made him pay with a double to the gap in right center that scored Bell:
Colin Moran then grounded out to first, bringing Cervelli home. Adeiny Hechevarria followed with a sac fly that scored Frazier.
"Sometimes you think it's patience (at the plate), sometimes balls are just balls," Hurdle said of his team's approach against the Cubs' right-hander. "We talked about it beforehand, I thought the guys handled it very professionally."
When Chatwood walked Dickerson to open the third, Joe Maddon made it a bullpen game. But a three-run lead was more than enough for Musgrove, who gave up his lone run in the top of the third when Ben Zobrist connected on a 93-mph four-seamer that caught the middle of the plate. Zobrist sent it 370 feet over the Clemente Wall in right to make it 3-1:
However, Musgrove was unfazed and appeared to only get stronger as the game went on. In fact, his last inning may have been his finest. He struck out Kyle Schwarber and Willson Contreras to lead off the seventh. After pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella reached on a fielding error by Frazier at second, Musgrove got Addison Russell to hit a harmless grounder to short to end his night after just 87 pitches:
The Pirates, who moved to within 10 games of the Cubs in the division and six games out of the final wildcard spot, can salvage a split of the four-game series with a win Sunday afternoon. Though the Pirates are a longshot to make the postseason, particularly after their recent skid, Kyle Crick said he still believes.
"Been kind of scrapping lately, but that's part of baseball," Crick was telling me. "We'll probably score 12 runs tomorrow. That's what we do."
If the first three games of this series are any indication, the Pirates will only need two runs.
"We played them both 1-0 games and we just beat them," the reliever was saying. "We're right there. We're talented. We're young. And we've got 40 more left to play or so."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, VIDEO, STANDINGS1. Bullpen works to perfection.
When the Pirates made a splash at the July 31 trade deadline by acquiring Keone Kela, it was almost assumed that he was going to be the eighth-inning set-up man. Hasn't quite worked out that way just yet.
On Saturday, Hurdle turned to Crick to pitch the eighth and he did that job superbly after giving up a leadoff single to Zobrist. He then got Jason Heyward to line out and David Bote to ground out. He punctuated his outing by striking out Anthony Rizzo on just four pitches, the last of which was an 82-mph inside slider that completely fooled the Cubs' slugger:
"(Cervelli) came out and we talked before Rizzo came up because it was a pretty big moment. He can change the game with one swing," Crick was telling me. "(Friday), we pounded him with sliders in and I believe that's why he was taking the first couple pitches, because those fastballs, he usually swings at one of those, for sure. The heater that he pulled (down the right field line) was mislocated. That ball was supposed to be middle up to where he couldn't get to it, but I missed in and luckily he pulled it foul. That kind of set up the slider. Just executed it."
Vazquez worked a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Javy Baez and Schwarber on off-speed pitches, to earn his 27th save. It was Vazquez's first save since Aug. 8 at Colorado.
"When he comes in and goes three digits and throws the changeup or the slider, even though the separation doesn't grab your eyes, it's not 15 mph separation, but you have to cheat to hit the fastball," Hurdle was explaining. "So anything else with that tilt and that late finish or bottom to the changeup, it makes it very challenging."
2. Dickerson's revival is real.
Part of the Pirates' problems at the plate have centered on the big three bats of Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and Dickerson going silent.
While Marte and Polanco both went 0-for-4, Dickerson is showing signs of coming out of his slump. Though he didn't score a run or drive any in, Dickerson went 3-for-3 with a walk on Saturday.
"I felt like we've done a better job lately, even the last couple days even though we haven't scored runs, there's been some solid at bats," Dickerson said. "As long as you continue to hit the ball hard. Sometimes it makes you want to doubt yourself, but as long as you keep working you'll outwork any slump."
Hurdle said that he spoke with Dickerson after the game and told him to just believe in himself and to shut off outside noise.
"He's gotten to a better place," the manager said. "He can hit. Sometimes you go through cycles, all hitters do. I love the way he shows up every day. He always feels like today's the day he's going to do something special."
3. Two more double plays.
Marte is perhaps the Pirates' most valuable position player and he is certainly their fastest. He is, after all, third in MLB with 28 stolen bases.
However, Marte grounded into two double plays in his first two at-bats on Saturday. To be fair, both balls were well-struck.
The two double plays in three innings on Saturday came a night after the Pirates tied a major-league record with seven double plays in a nine-inning game. This time they did not come back to haunt the Bucs.