A first-place team doesn’t normally need a pick-me-up. And, yes, the Pirates are not only on top of the Central but also now the National League.
However, they were collectively dragging a little bit Saturday at PNC Park following a trying victory over the Giants on Friday night. The win was marred by a collision between Erik Gonzalez and Starling Marte while chasing a fly ball in the eighth inning that landed both players on the injured list.
Gonzalez went on the 60-day IL with a fractured left clavicle that will likely sideline him at least through the end of June. Marte sustained a bruised abdominal wall and the Pirates aren’t ready to put a timetable on his potential return.
However, Cole Tucker -- the human ball of adrenaline – provided a bigger boost than a six-pack of Red Bull in his Pirates’ debut.
The ultra-energetic shortstop’s two-run home run in the fifth inning -- his first major-league hit -- broke a tie and lifted the Pirates to a 3-1 victory over the Giants at PNC Park. The game was called after five innings following a three-hour and eight-minute rain delay.
The Pirates ran their season-high winning streak to five games and raised their record to 12-6. They have won 11 of 14 since beginning the season 1-3.
“I didn’t show up feeling stressed because Marte got hurt and Erik got hurt, but it definitely hurt losing two of our boys,” Tucker said. “It was sweet to go out and beat a good ball club, an organization with a lot of history. That was cool.”
Tucker, who went 1-for-3, was one of two players called up from Triple-A Indianapolis before the game. Center fielder Bryan Reynolds also appeared in his first major-league game and was 1-for-2.
With two outs and a runner on second in the fifth, Tucker hit a 431-foot shot to the shrubbery beyond the center-field fence off left-hander Derek Holland. Tucker said the home run trot was special but the curtain call from the crowd of 17,663 was even better.
“I’ve seen them, and I remember when I was younger, I was at Chase Field and I saw (the Diamondbacks’) Luis Gonzalez get one and I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” Tucker said. “I got out there and I was just floored with emotion. It was loud, man. People were screaming. It was really, really cool and I might never do that again in my life, but to do it in front of my family and introduce myself to the team and the city in that fashion is, like, storybook.”
The Pirates have believed Tucker is a special talent since selecting him in the first round of the 2014 amateur draft following his senior year of high school in Phoenix. He had his ups and downs because of injuries early in his career but had his coming out party in the Arizona Fall League last year, then followed a strong spring training with a hot start at Indianapolis.
And now Tucker is a big-leaguer at 22. He also became the first Pirates' player to homer in his major-league debut since Marte on July 26, 2012, off the Astros' Dallas Keuchel at Houston.
“I’ll never forget today as long as I live,” Tucker said. “Just being welcomed and included and being here in a big-league uniform. And winning a baseball game. It’s the coolest thing of my life.”
Tucker also had plenty of texts on his phone after the game.
510 missed texts.
dang. @cotuck's night isn't over apparently. pic.twitter.com/m14baQ3wek
— Pirates (@Pirates) April 21, 2019
Reynolds, acquired from the Giants in last year’s Andrew McCutchen trade, was just as happy for Tucker getting his first hit as he was for himself.
“That was crazy,” Reynolds said of the homer. “That was awesome. It was really good to see. He’s a great guy, a great teammate. You always root for guys like that.”
Reynolds singled off Holland in the fourth inning, hitting a hard grounder into left field. The reserved 24-year-old struck out on three pitches in his first plate appearance in the second.
“We’ve been together through a lot the last couple of years,” said Tucker of Reynolds, who was also his teammate at Double-A Altoona last season and in the AFL. “To see him have that moment was great. He expects a lot out of himself as a baseball player and rightfully so, because he’s unbelievably talented. He can come off as being hard on himself, but he has really high standards.
“To see him come out and have success and smoke a ball off a legitimate major-league pitcher, I couldn’t be happier for him. I was pumped for him. He’s a great a teammate, a great dude and I’m super happy that he is here in the big leagues.”
Reynolds admitted to having nerves in his first game.
How long Tucker and Reynolds will stay with the Pirates remains to be seen.
Kevin Newman, who lost out to Gonzalez for the starting shortstop job in spring training, is on the IL with a lacerated right ring finger. While he is making progress, it isn’t certain when he might be healthy enough to play.
Reynolds’ stay could be short as Gregory Polanco and Lonnie Chisenhall are both on rehab assignments at Indianapolis and could be activated in the next few days. Another outfielder, Corey Dickerson, is expected off the IL sometime around the end of the month.
However, they both became big-leaguers Saturday and helped a first-place team win a game.
“We’re in first place. Perfect,” Tucker said with a grin. “That’s so cool, man. I want us to be in first place all year. The year is really long but we’re in a really good spot. We’re a little banged up and guys are here who normally wouldn’t be here, but we feel good about the guys we go to battle with. We know with our staff, we’re going to be in every game, we’re going to get a quality start. It’s (the offense’s) job to put up a handful of runs. We’ve been doing that, and we want to keep rolling.”
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE GOOD
Lost in all the hoopla surrounding the new guys was that Jameson Taillon (1-2) got his first win of the season.
Taillon allowed one run and four hits in five innings with three strikeouts and one walk. He threw 56 of his 79 pitches for strikes while lowering his ERA from 3.43 to 3.12, which remains the worst among the Pirates’ five starting pitchers.
Taillon wasn’t dominant but good enough.
Though the Giants put runners in scoring position in the second and third innings, they didn’t break through until the fifth. Steven Duggar’s one-out single tied the score at 1-1, but Taillon escaped further damage when Gerardo Parra lined into an inning-ending double play.
THE BAD
The rain delay was brutal as everyone waited around over three hours for nothing.
While the Pirates can be blamed for a lot of things, the long delay can’t be pinned on them. The game is in the umpires’ hands once the lineup cards are exchanged.
Crew chief Ted Barrett is one of the best umpires in the game. However, his decision to wait for a window in which the rain would stop turned out to be a bad one.
It also might be time for Major League Baseball to change its archaic rule in which the game is official once five innings are completed.
If games could be suspended at any point then played to a full completion at a later date, there would not have been the need to sit around. This game could have been picked back up prior to tomorrow’s regularly scheduled game.
THE OTHER SIDE
The umpires waited a long time to give the Giants a chance to finish the game and get a win. Instead, they lost their fourth straight and fifth in six games.
"If it wasn't for bad luck, right now we wouldn't have any," manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's how things have been going."
THE DATA
• Taillon got credit for the third complete game of his four-year career, which has spanned 80 starts. He had the other two last season.
• Taillon had allowed 12 runs in 12 innings in his previous three career starts against the Giants.
• Jung Ho Kang also homered for the Pirates to lead off the third inning. Like Tucker, Kang hit his home run an estimated 431 feet, reaching the last row of the lower tier of the left-field bleachers.
• Josh Bell’s eight-game hitting streak ended as he went 0-for-2.
• The Pirates lowered their major-league best ERA to 2.52.
THE INJURIES
• Starling Marte, outfielder, is on the 10-day IL with a bruised abdominal wall and right quad strain and is out indefinitely.
• Erik Gonzalez, shortstop, was placed on the 60-day IL with a fractured right clavicle and is out until at least late-June.
• Adam Frazier, second baseman, missed his second straight game with back spasms and is considered day-to-day.
• Jordan Lyles, right-hander, was hit on his pitching hand by a line drive Friday night but is expected to make his next start Wednesday night against the Diamondbacks at PNC Park.
• Gregory Polanco, outfielder, is recovering from left shoulder surgery and is on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Indianapolis. He is 6-for-20 with a double, six RBIs, two stolen bases, two walks and eight strikeouts in five games.
• Corey Dickerson, outfielder, has a strained right shoulder. He is throwing and hitting but the expectation is for him to be out until late April/early May.
• Elias Diaz, catcher, is recovering from a virus and is on a rehab assignment at Indianapolis, though he was at PNC Park on Saturday to be examined by the team's medical staff. He is 12-for-29 with three doubles and four RBIs, one walk and five strikeouts in seven games.
• Lonnie Chisenhall, outfielder, is out with a broken right hand and began a rehab assignment Friday with Indianapolis, going 0-for-3. He did not play Saturday, as planned.
• Kevin Newman, infielder, has a lacerated right ring finger and is taking part in baseball activities, though there is no timetable for his return.
• Jose Osuna, first baseman/outfielder, is in extended spring training in Bradenton, Fla. and participating in all baseball activities.
THE SCHEDULE
The three-game series concludes at 1:35 p.m. Sunday with Chris Archer (1-0, 2.00) pitching against Dereck Rodriguez (2-2, 3.63). Archer last pitched April 13 against the Nationals at Washington. He finished serving a five-game suspension from Major League Baseball on Saturday for throwing a pitch behind the Reds' Derek Dietrich in an April 7 game that touched off a benches-clearing kerfuffle.
THE COVERAGE
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