It was a gut-wrenching scene.
Nick Burdi grabbed his right elbow while writhing in pain and fell to his knees on the pitcher’s mound in the eighth inning Monday night. Eventually, Burdi got into a sitting position and began sobbing as Clint Hurdle and teammates tried to console the rookie reliever while trainers attended to him.
That made the Pirates’ ugly 12-4 loss to the Diamondbacks, a game in which they took a 4-1 lead into the seventh inning, even more painful. The clubhouse was quieter than normal afterward and Burdi’s well-being was on everyone’s mind.
The Pirates' director of sports medicine, Todd Tomczyk, couldn’t offer anything more than Burdi left the game with biceps/elbow pain. Burdi was still being examined and treated a half-hour after the game ended.
Hurdle said he couldn't remember a scene quite like that on the mound:
Burdi is a quiet sort and a throwback in the sense that he believes a rookie should be seen and not heard. Yet he is also well-respected after returning from Tommy John surgery late last season then making the team out of spring training as a Rule 5 Draft pick from the Twins.
“It’s not something easy to watch, especially when it’s one of your teammates,” Joe Musgrove said. “Everyone in here saw how hard he worked the last year and a half and how committed he was to his rehab. He was always a professional, making sure he was getting his treatment every day. Then to see him come out and start the season the way he has, then this happens, it’s nothing but heartbreaking.”
The hard-throwing Burdi had quickly gained the opportunity to pitch in high-leverage situations, especially with set-up men Keone Kela and Richard Rodriguez enduring early-season struggles with the home ball.
Before being charged with five runs in 1/3 of an inning Monday, Burdi’s ERA was 4.50 through his first eight appearances, though he showed signs of dominance with 16 strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings.
Elias Diaz was surprised when he saw his battery mate grab his arm. Burdi threw a 97-mph four-seamer to Wilmer Flores on his last pitch.
Video of the Nick Burdi injury pic.twitter.com/GFxnDL3rO7
— zach (@zachleft) April 23, 2019
“There was nothing to make me think he was hurt,” Diaz told me, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. It’s sad, very sad.”
Even if the news is good and Burdi is lost for only a short period of time, the Pirates will miss him. However, the length of any potential injured list wasn’t on anyone’s mind after the game.
“That was hard,” Kyle Crick said. “To know what he went through in the previous years to get back to this point and have success, it’s tough. You could feel it in the dugout, and you could feel it with the fans, too. It was just a very difficult thing to watch.”
Burdi, understandably, was not available to the media. However, his teammates found him to be in better spirits after the game.
"He's engaging. He's talking to us. He's not in a corner crying," Musgrove said. "He's ready to face whatever it is. He's got the work ethic and the mentality to bounce back from something like this."
The Pirates continue to be plagued by injuries. They currently have nine players on the IL. A total of 14 players have been placed on the IL overall and the season is just 20 games old.
Yet they are 12-8 and lead the National League Central by percentage points over the Cardinals despite all the bad news.
“These men play the game of baseball,” Hurdle said. “Ever since I’ve been around been around here, these men have been resilient. It hurts the way it happened. The first 20 games of this season may be the new normal for us because we’ve been all over the place, but the will to win is still there, the spirit of competition is still there. We’re all going to say a prayer for Nick and be in his corner to pull him through. We’ll also acknowledge we have a game tomorrow, and we’ll be ready to play it at some point in time.”
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE GOOD
Gregory Polanco certainly made the Pirates’ decision to activate him from the injured list before the game look good as he had a fine season debut.
The right fielder went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a double and a walk. It was his first major-league game since undergoing open surgery last September on his left (throwing) shoulder.
He did not have to test the shoulder with any challenging throws.
“Happy to see him back out there,” Hurdle said. “Happy to see him in the box. Happy to see him going out there and playing defense and running the bases. We welcome him with open arms and he’s ready to contribute in any way he can.”
THE BAD
The seventh inning was a nightmare for the Pirates as the Diamondbacks scored seven runs to turn a three-run deficit into a four-run lead.
Crick came on to protect a 4-1 lead in relief of Musgrove, who allowed a walk and a single to start the inning.
Things turned weird very quickly as, first, John Ryan Murphy reached on a swinging bunt. The nubber along the third-base line loaded the bases.
Blake Swihart then hit a dribbler in front of home plate. Crick fielded the ball and tossed to Elias Diaz, who did not have his foot on the plate. That allowed a run to score as Swihart was credited with a single.
Jarrod Dyson hit a comebacker to Crick, shattering his bat. Crick dodged the wayward wood and made a wide throw home, but Diaz was able to keep his foot on the plate this time for the first out.
However, Eduardo Escobar then hit a flare off the end of the bat that landed in the outfield grass just beyond third base to score a run.
The Diamondbacks finally hit a ball hard off Crick when David Peralta lined a bases-clearing triple to center field to put them ahead 6-4.
After a strikeout, Christian Walker greeted Burdi with a two-run home run to the first row of the right-field stands.
“People say it doesn’t matter if you put the ball in play,” Hurdle said. “Tonight, those people probably need to take another look at it. It does matter when you put the ball in play. They basically had a big inning because they put the ball in play.”
THE OTHER SIDE
After taking the lead with the seven-run seventh, the Diamondbacks turned the game into a rout with four more runs in the eighth that made it 12-4.
The Diamondbacks moved over .500 at 12-11. Nine of those wins have been of the comeback variety, which leads the majors.
"I think it's just a tribute to the guys we have," Walker said. "Our pitchers are out there battling and keeping us in games. We want to do everything we can to score runs and win and all that."
THE DATA
• Reserve outfielder JB Shuck pitched a scoreless ninth inning, hitting 91 mph while allowing one hit and walking one. It was the second time he had pitched in a major-league game as he gave up one hit and one run for the White Sox in one inning against the Nationals in 2016. The last position player to pitch for the Pirates was catcher Erik Kratz, also in 2016.
• Musgrove allowed three runs and five hits in six innings with five strikeouts and two walks.
• Musgrove’s ERA rose to 1.59. He entered the game leading the major leagues with a 0.81 mark.
• Josh Bell had another hit with a runner in scoring position, a run-producing triple in the fifth, and is 9-for-14 (.643) with 14 RBIs in those situations.
• Colin Moran had two hits in three at-bats with runners in scoring position – an RBI double in third and a run-scoring single in the fifth -- and is 9-for-16 (.563) so far this season.
THE INJURIES
• Starling Marte, outfielder, is on the 10-day IL with a bruised abdominal wall and bruised right quad 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.
• 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.
• Lonnie Chisenhall, outfielder, is out with a broken right hand and on a rehab assignment with Indianapolis. He is 1-for-6 in two games.
• Kevin Newman, infielder, has a lacerated right ring finger and will begin a rehab assignment tomorrow with Indianapolis.
• Jacob Stallings, catcher, was placed on the IL on Sunday with a cervical neck strain and is out indefinitely.
• Jose Osuna, first baseman/outfielder, is in extended spring training in Bradenton, Fla. and participating in all baseball activities.
THE SCHEDULE
The second game of the four-game series is at 7:05 tonight with Trevor Williams (1-0, 2.59) facing Luke Weaver (1-1, 3.92). Hunter Homistek will be on the coverage, and I'll return Friday night when the Pirates begin a road trip in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.
THE COVERAGE
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MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Pirates vs. Diamondbacks, PNC Park, April 22, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS