ATLANTA — Chris Archer's search for answers led him back to how his pitching career started. Archer's father, Ron, taught him at 10 years old to pitch out of the stretch, rather than a windup, before throwing to the plate.
After calling his fifth start with the Pirates "inexcusable," he chose to again heed that advice in his next bullpen. Each of his dozen pitches from the stretch was more crisp than those from a windup, and Archer, at 29 years old, used that same basic delivery to craft his finest outing in months.
"My dad taught me instead of doing that extra stuff, you have a good arm, you’re an athlete: lift your leg and go," he said Saturday night after carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning in the Pirates' 5-3 loss to the Braves at SunTrust Park. Reliever Keone Kela blew a two-run lead with four runs in the eighth, but Archer showed why he was the top prize of the non-waiver trade deadline.
The right-hander struck out five with only one walk, and his only earned run came after the only two hits against him. It was the first time he's pitched through the sixth inning in a Pirates uniform.
"He was steadfast with his work in between," Clint Hurdle said. "We talked about this being an opportunity to push through it. Many guys have come up here and been really, really good, and had to figure out how to be really, really good again. ... I know he pitched really well , and he has to feel really good about that outing."
Archer had one of his worst starts of the season last Sunday in Milwaukee, as the Brewers had scored six runs when he exited after only four innings. He was hit hard from front to finish, allowing a pair of home runs for his second consecutive loss. That inflated his ERA to 6.45 and his WHIP to 1.74 in 22 1/3 innings since the trade. Archer had a 3.13 ERA and 66 strikeouts to 22 walks in 11 starts before the deadline.
The rest of the Pirates' rotation encouraged him to trust his routine. Ray Searage urged him to trust Francisco Cervelli. Archer, though, couldn't find comfort on the mound. That led to erratic fastball command. His wipeout slider still had a 35.5 percent whiff rate, but he had trouble putting hitters away. He noticed his pitches were sharper when throwing from the stretch with runners on base.
After throwing those dozen pitches in the bullpen Thursday, he consulted with Searage for permission to pitch strictly from the stretch against the Braves. Archer didn't even throw out of the stretch in the moments leading up to first pitch Saturday night. But eliminating the leg kick gave him an effortless delivery, as he pumped fastball after fastball to the top of the zone.
He needed only 58 pitches to get through four innings, 19 of which were to two batters, and he didn't fail to put hitters away this time. It all began in the first inning when his eighth pitch to Freddie Freeman resulted in this strikeout:
"I finally got some results," Archer said. "It felt good. It stinks that we lost as a team, but they’re in first place in their division for a reason. There’s a very small margin for error. Any time you give them extra chances, extra outs, good teams are going to capitalize. They did that."
His only walk came against rookie Ronald Acuña Jr., though Archer responded with three outs on seven pitches. Again, Archer threw mostly sliders, producing seven swinging strikes and six looking, but he also threw his fastball with more confidence. He used it to strike out Johan Camargo, Dansby Swanson and Kevin Gausman.
He was only pulled after the bottom of the sixth because Hurdle wanted to use a pinch-hitter to try to spark the Pirates' struggling offense. It wasn't only the delivery, though. In previous starts, Archer would shake off Cervelli's calls from behind the plate, and it rarely led to positive results. He didn't shake off one of Cervelli's calls Saturday.
Archer threw 86 pitches, 56 strikes, and retired eight batters on three pitches or less. "He was amazing today," Cervelli said. "He came to pitch. He was throwing strikes. He was throwing the fastball anywhere he wants. Everything out [of his hand] was with control. ... He was aggressive in the zone."
Archer didn't allow a hit until the first batter he faced in the sixth, when Dansby Swanson hit a grounder past Colin Moran for a double. Michael Reed then struck out flailing at a slider before Acuña fought off an inside fastball to right for an RBI single to cut the Pirates' lead to two runs. Yet, the result, which dropped the Pirates to 66-70 and 10 games back in the wild-card race, meant little.
After all, Archer may have unlocked what made him one of the more reliable starters in the majors for nearly five years. His 1,134 strikeouts since June 1, 2013 rank fifth among all major league starters behind Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Corey Kluber and Clayton Kershaw.
The Pirates traded Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz to have Archer in their rotation for potentially three more seasons. Despite his struggles, the pitching staff entered Saturday with the second-lowest ERA in the National League since July 7. It's unclear how many more starts he'll get before season's end, but this could be have been his most important to date in 2018.
"I just want to simplify things, let Cervelli put the fingers down, lift my leg and go," he said. "Instead of having to step, lift my leg super-high. I just went back to the basics."
1. Kela will be fine after 'wild' eighth inning.
Kela was a disaster in the eighth inning. He had been scored on only once in 14 appearances since being acquired at the deadline, striking out 21 batters in that span. He had two more strikeouts in the win Friday night, too, but his command wasn't sharp this time, and the Braves were waiting for him to throw a fastball over the plate
Swanson hit the second pitch of the inning into the Pirates' bullpen to cut the lead to one run, and Lucas Duda followed with a double to right. Duda scored on a wild pitch and Freeman followed with this RBI double:
Kyle Crick then allowed his one inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly. The Pirates' bullpen entered the game with the lowest ERA in the NL since the All-Star break, and it was only the second time in 57 games they lost a lead after the seventh inning.
Kela, a 25-year-old under contract for two more seasons, will be fine. So will Crick. The bullpen and rotation offer so much promise for 2019.
"This is a tough league up here from time to time and everybody learns it," Hurdle said. "It’s hard. … We were gifted a couple runs .We added one on and they swung the bats. They swung the bats in the eighth inning. ... It was just kind of a wild eighth for us, unfortunately."
That won't make this loss any easier to handle for all involved. They're now 13-21 and have won only one series since the end of the 11-game winning streak. This was an opportunity to build confidence after the offense finally had a few big hits against Gausman.
Starling Marte went 2 for 4, including a two-run double in the fifth, to extend his hitting streak to eight games, and Polanco hit a solo home run in the sixth to push the lead to three runs. Kela wasn't in the visitors clubhouse following the game, but Cervelli scoffed when asked about the performance.
"It’s going to happen," Cervelli said. "He’s a human. It’s baseball. They’ve got good hitters, you make mistakes. That’s what happens. The guy’s been good since he got here. I’m sure he’s going to come back tomorrow."
2. Offense needs even more from Polanco.
The Pirates need more from Polanco next year. That may be unfair considering what he's accomplished in his fifth season, most recently this 435-foot solo shot in the sixth to tie his career high with 22 home runs:
Polanco's also posted career highs in on-base percentage (.335) and slugging percentage (.490), though he's also on pace for his highest strikeout total since debuting back in 2014. His batting average (.246) is also his lowest since his first summer with the Pirates. That's been dragged down by those awful stretches of baseball. Remember, he batted .185/.280/.324 with three home runs and 17 RBIs from April 13 through June 16.
He's hit .290 with 14 home runs, 44 RBIs and a .937 OPS in 65 games since. "He’s got a month left," Hurdle said. "Knock on wood, he stays healthy and continues to post up and play. That one was hit with an exclamation point on the end of it. Like what he’s doing. Like how he’s doing it. He continues to work, and he wants to be better."
Imagine what his numbers would like like if he was even close to being a replacement-level player for that two-month stretch, and the Pirates will need him to be so much more next season. The lineup Hurdle used Saturday could very well be the same on opening day in Cincinnati next March, and this team needs a steady presence in the middle of the order for this offense to avoid being among the worst in the majors.
Sure, Josh Bell might rebound to alleviate some of the pressure. But Polanco made real progress this year, while Bell encountered a sophomore slump. Polanco, though, has to show he's capable of being a consistent threat, and the defense needs to get sharper, too. He allowed a fly ball to go right past him in the seventh, though Richard Rodriguez struck out Tyler Flowers to avoid damage.
3. Applying some needed pressures.
With Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman playing more, the Pirates should place a greater emphasis on stealing bases. Both have more speed than their predecessors — Newman stole 28 bases at Triple-A — and that's precisely what this offense needs if it's going to need to manufacture runs every night. Marte's accounted for 30 of the team's 59, while Polanco is second with 10.
The Pirates rank well below average in the statistic and have converted on only 67 percent of their attempts, the fifth-lowest mark in the NL. Sure, three of the best defensive catchers in the league play in their division — Tucker Barnhart, Wilson Contreras and Yadier Molina — however, they need more given this team's lack of power.
Huntington said Saturday he will pursue bench options in free agency, but this is a team that didn't spend a dollar in that market last year. Don't expect that to change. Investing in their bench this season didn't push this team into contention. That means Pablo Reyes and Kevin Kramer are legitimate options to be on this roster next season. Both are capable of swiping a bag when necessary.