The upper deck at PNC Park literally, physically shook when it happened.
Full count. Bases loaded. Two outs. Tie game. Kevin Newman to the plate.
Then ... this:
That right there sealed the Pirates' 3-2 comeback win Friday night over the Cubs, and it gave Newman his third walkoff of the season. Not bad for a rookie.
"Those are moments you dream of when you're a kid," Newman was saying at his locker after the game. "To be able to do that and come through for your teammates, it's a lot of fun."
But it wasn't just the result. It was how Newman — and how the Pirates as a whole — got there. I mean, just look at Newman's entire plate appearance:
Look at the pitch Newman worked his way to. Great PA. #pirates pic.twitter.com/uoBb29w0fs
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) August 17, 2019
That's poetic, because, just as Newman battled for that meaty ninth pitch, the Pirates scraped and clawed their way to a dramatic, ninth-inning comeback that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Take Joe Musgrove first. He tossed seven-and-one-third innings, allowing four hits and zero walks while striking out nine, tying his career high with that last metric. It was nearly perfect from him — and those are his words.
"That's probably the best I've felt all year," Musgrove said after the game. " ... Dude, throwing as many pitches as I throw, it's hard to keep them all sharp. We talked about this before, but some nights, I don't know, the stars align and you're able to execute."
"All four pitches were in play," Clint Hurdle added during his post-game media session. "Nine guys three pitches or less? He just ran through it."
But is it "Murphy's Law" or "Musgrove's Law"? Because what could go wrong did go wrong tonight. Hurdle inserted Felipe Vazquez for the rare five-out save in the eighth after Musgrove began to stumble. It was a tall order for the All-Star Vazquez — runners on the corners, just one out — but this was "The Nightmare." He'd converted 22 of 23 saves coming into this one, embarrassing some of the game's best hitters along the way.
Then he ... gave up a triple and the Pirates' lead to his first batter, career .238-hitter Tony Kemp?
The same Kemp who didn't have a triple all year?
Yep.
"At that point in time [to yank Musgrove] for Vazquez, it's not an easy decision," Hurdle said. "I just felt it was the right decision. If we don't win the game, there's going to be different questions going on in here about the decision."
Then there was this, from Musgrove:
"Any time Felipe comes in and I gotta hand the ball to him, I have nothing but confidence in him," Musgrove said. "I told him after, I said, 'Hey, man, it's another day tomorrow, dude. Stuff happens.' "
That's it, really. Stuff happened. There's no reason for Kemp to beat Vazquez as he did, but it happened, and the game took a dramatic shift late. But then it shifted again in the bottom of the ninth, as Bryan Reynolds bounced a one-out single to third to set the stage.
Then Starling Marte grounded out, putting Reynolds on second, followed by an intentional walk to Josh Bell from Brian Kintzler.
Kintzler then walked Colin Moran — this time unintentionally — and stayed in the game to face Cole Tucker, freshly recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis earlier in the day.
Full count. Bases loaded. Two outs. Sound familiar?
Only this time, the team was down one, and Tucker stayed calm and composed, taking a fourth ball to get the third consecutive walk from Kintzler and tie the game.
"It was a really good at-bat," Hurdle said. "We needed to have a really good at-bat there, and he gave us one."
That's Hurdle's way of putting it. Tucker's was just a little more fun:
"That was the coolest walk I'll probably ever have in my career," Tucker was saying after the game. "It felt good to do it. It felt good to pick up Joe. It felt good to pick up the team. It was sweet. It was a packed house, and it was loud as hell."
And yeah, he was hyped about it:
"I wanted to hit it to the moon," Tucker said. "But I mean, I was clearly excited to walk, too. I felt bad. I was like, 'I'm probably over-hyping this and being too excited.' But I was really pumped. That's me. That's how I play. I bring energy all the time ... But then I looked over and I saw Anthony Rizzo and I was like, 'Probably tone it down.'"
I had to follow up with Tucker there, because he really didn't need to tone down anything. The moment was huge for him in his comeback to the big leagues. Another rookie, Reynolds, got it all started with a hit. And another rookie in Newman won the game after him. To have three rookies make that impact in that moment? Yeah, celebrate away, man:
"I was thinking after that at-bat, I was like, 'That was a playoff-like atmosphere,'" Tucker said. "I remember hearing [Jordy Mercer] talk about the Wild Card games here and that atmosphere. And even when the guy stepped off, it reminded me of the [Johnny Cueto] thing, like, 'Oh my god,' this is happening again ... I was just thinking, 'We're going to do this again. This won't be the last time that we do this, especially with all these young guys and all this talent that we have.'"
Then, the punctuation.
"We'll play in that atmosphere again and it will feel really good when we do, and nights like tonight will give us an advantage going into it."
Tucker's not the only one feeling that optimism amid a rough season. The straight-shooting, all-business Musgrove dropped a similar mention — totally unprovoked — at his locker.
"After the game, we talked and I kind of told everybody, 'These are the guys that we're going to have in here for the next couple years for the most part,'" Musgrove said. "Although this season might seem like a wash to some people or seem like it's out of reach, I think there's a lot of things to gain in the last month and a half of the season."
A lot of things to gain, indeed, Mr. Musgrove.
Like a reminder of how special the game of baseball can be when people care. I sure hope Pirates brass took some notes.
Bet they didn't.
• I glossed over Musgrove a touch earlier, and that's just not fair to him. Not on this night. He sat down the first 11 batters he faced, needing just 40 pitches to skate through four innings of work. At one point between the second and third innings, he struck out three straight en route to that nine-strikeout performance.
And about those Ks ... Wanna see all of 'em in rapid succession?
Notice anything fun there?
Mhm. Musgrove fanned batters with everything, using the four-seam, sinker, slider, curveball and changeup to generate strikeouts.
"You have a lot more confidence on the mound when you're able to execute six pitches," Musgrove said. "There's no problem in going 1-0, 2-0 to hitters because you know you can get right back in the count."
"The unpredictability, maybe, was the biggest key tonight," Hurdle added on this mix. "Because not only was he cross-firing the fastball — up-and-in, down-and-away — but then the mix of soft, to step on and off the gas, because those guys can hit. They can ambush, there's power, there's speed, there's base-hit ability in that lineup, and he held them in check."
And don't think this was all Musgrove. Yeah, he was the one slinging the ball, but Jacob Stallings played a key role in it all, too. Musgrove doesn't take that for granted, and he gave his catcher some shine after the game.
"Me and Stallings had a great game plan," Musgrove said. "There were times throughout the game where he challenged me and called pitches where I didn't really expect them to be called. But I trusted him, you know? That's kind of how it works. When you're able to execute, it's, he's the brain, I'm the muscle. You tell me where to throw it, [and] I'll throw it."
This is the guy the Pirates wanted in that much-criticized Gerrit Cole trade. This is the guy they'll need as they start to look toward 2020 and beyond.
• Colin Moran channels some ancient energy from time to time. With runners in scoring position, Moran's slashing .352/.403/.600 with 55 RBIs and over half (six) of his 11 home runs. He's notched just 63 RBIs total, meaning over 87 percent of them came with runners within striking distance. His RBI single with Marte on second in the fourth opened the night's scoring, adding to his success in those situations.
• This was kinda crazy: In the first inning, Cubs right fielder Nicholas Castellanos took a big cut and the bat went flying out of his hands and into the netting behind the Pirates' dugout. Not the best TV replay from the box, but here we go:
Castellanos lost his bat into the netting near the Pirates’ dugout on a big ole swing. Whoa. I caught the replay on TV here. #dkps #pirates pic.twitter.com/FWPOhflO99
— Hunter Alek Homistek (@HunterAHomistek) August 16, 2019
• Hendricks' impressive line on the other side: seven innings pitched, three hits, one earned run, one walk, one strikeout. He threw 77 pitches, 52 strikes.
• Tonight's attendance: 29,746.
• It must be noted: Bacon Burt got wheels:
BACON BURT WITH THE JETS!!! #dkps #pirates pic.twitter.com/5YMjm4pDTM
— Hunter Alek Homistek (@HunterAHomistek) August 17, 2019
• Don't get caught up in the fairy tale ending in this one. This team is now 7-25 since the All-Star Break and 51-70 overall. As Dejan Kovacevic says: All of them. Every last one of them.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Richard Rodriguez (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Gregory Polanco (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Francisco Cervelli (60-day IL, concussion)
• Rookie Davis (60-day IL, forearm)
• Lonnie Chisenhall (60-day IL, ski lift repair)
Here's the most recent full report.
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates return for Game 2 against the Cubs in a Saturday-afternoon tilt. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m., and I'll have the full coverage, beginning with Clint Hurdle and the opening of the clubhouse around 10:30 a.m.
THE COVERAGE
All our baseball content, including Mound Visit by Jason Rollison, Indy Watch by Matt Welch, and Altoona Watch by Jarrod Prugar, can be found on our team page.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Pirates vs. Cubs, PNC Park, Aug. 16, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS