This one was painful, and not just because the Pirates blew a late lead and lost, 5-4, to the Marlins in 10 innings Tuesday night at PNC Park.
No, there was actual pain for a pair of their rookies.
The first involved top pitching prospect Mitch Keller. He exited in the second inning after being struck by a comebacker on the right wrist, a 105.5-mph liner off the bat of Garrett Cooper:
You can exhale, though. While Keller did have a brace on in the clubhouse after the game, initial scans indicated a contusion, not a fracture.
"That's definitely a relief," Keller said, while also acknowledging several times that the wrist still hurt.
He left with athletic trainer Bryan Housand without trying to throw a warmup pitch to test it.
But hey, at least he made the catch, with the ball bouncing off the wrist and right into his glove.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Keller said on how he did it. "I was trying to defend myself. I guess that was the lucky part of the play."
That is some quality cup-half-full thinking. Still, it was a "frustrating" night for Keller, as he'd term it, and justifiably so. Even if the injury doesn't prove serious, it still took him out of a game where he was in an early groove. Keller retired all five batters he faced, striking out three. For a guy coming off a loss where he allowed 11 hits, Tuesday could have been a morale boost.
"That was the best I felt in a long time out there," Keller said. "Everything was really working, and I felt really good. Felt like it was going to be one of those games ... that was going to be really good for me, for the team."
In the eighth, the newly promoted Jason Martin became the second victim. After getting on base by working a 10 pitch, pinch-hit walk, Martin eventually landed on third base with two outs. There, he got an opportunity to score on a wild pitch, and while he was successful, pitcher Jarlin Garcia landed on his left shoulder during the collision at the plate.
Martin became the second player to leave with Housand.
"Very similar feeling," Clint Hurdle said, comparing Keller's and Martin's injuries. "Just got called up back to the big leagues. Both young guys are trying to get something done the last month. Both of them leave the game under situations they wouldn't have chosen, for sure."
Martin was not available to the media after the game. There was no update on his status as of late Tuesday night.
"Just a hard play," Keller said of the Martin injury. "Can't really do anything about it. Just dumb luck. Both plays were."
• Speaking of dumb luck, Miguel Rojas, of all people, is the first player to have the distinction of homering off Felipe Vazquez twice.
With the Marlins down to their last out, Rojas got a hold of a 100-mph Vazquez fastball and put it well over the wall in center.
"It was not located where I wanted," Vazquez said. " ... I didn't even look at it because I knew it was gone."
Rojas, who has five home runs this season and 20 over 621 major-league games, handed Vazquez his third blown save of the season.
• The rare Vazquez blown save came on the same day he was recognized as the National League's Reliever of the Month for August. He struck out 11 over 10 1/3 innings pitched, allowing one run. He won three games, picked up three saves and finished with a 0.48 WHIP.
"This one wasn't expected," Vazquez told me before the game.
This was his first such award, and the first for the Pirates since Jason Grilli in May 2013.
In case you missed it, Hunter Homistek just did a dive into the mind of Felipe this past road trip to Denver.
• In the 10th, Cooper hit the eventual game-winning homer off Parker Markel.
• The Pirates continued to get some quick offense Tuesday when Adam Frazier opened the home half of the first with a home run off Sandy Alcantara.
"He left it over the plate, I put a pretty good swing on it and got it out," Frazier told me.
It was the Pirates' fourth leadoff home run in the past five games. Frazier did it Sunday in Denver, and Kevin Newman did it Aug. 29 and 31.
Frazier wound up 3 for 4 with three RBIs.
• Frazier almost had a fourth RBI. With Pablo Reyes on second and two outs in the ninth, Frazier grounded a ball in the hole. beating it out for an infield single. Reyes got the windmill from third base coach Joey Cora, but was thrown out by, of course, Cooper in an uncontested play at the plate.
"We're trying to steal a run," Hurdle said of the play. "It's an outfielder playing first. So yeah, I mean, after he's out, you want to see him held, but if we score a run, we're all jumping up and down. That's the life of a third base coach. It's a split second to make that decision, and he's making that decision while the throw is in the air."
Frazier did not get a look at the play because he had his head down going to first, but he was not satisfied with his ball in play.
"I'm not too happy with that 0-0 swing I was putting on that," he said. "Trying to drive that run in and I just put it in play."
• Reynolds Watch: Bryan Reynolds failed to get a hit in five at-bats, striking out twice. His average dropped to .331, falling further behind in second place to Anthony Rendon, who went 2 for 5 and raised his average to .338. Christian Yelich and Jeff McNeil remained in third and fourth place, batting .326 and .323, respectively.
• The Pirates had five new faces in the clubhouse Tuesday as part of the September roster expansions. August waiver claims Wei-Chung Wang and Yacksel Rios were in the bullpen, and Martin and Cole Tucker were added to the bench. Catcher Steven Baron was added to the 40-man roster and promoted as well.
• The Marlins snapped a 15 game road losing streak. Their last road win before Tuesday was July 24 against the White Sox. I don't have a calendar handy, but it is my understanding there was a month between July and September.
• The announced attendance was 9,169, third-lowest at PNC Park this season. The only games lower were April 4 against the Reds (8,523) and April 23 against the Diamondbacks (8,558).
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Chris Archer (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Clay Holmes (10-day IL, quadriceps)
• Chris Stratton (10-day IL, right side inflammation)
• Yefry Ramirez (10-day IL, right calf strain)
• Gregory Polanco (60-day IL, shoulder)
• Lonnie Chisenhall (60-day IL, not a September call-up)
Here's the most recent full report.
THE SCHEDULE
Well, there's another game Wednesday. Trevor Williams (7-6, 5.26) will take the hill against Robert Dugger (0-1, 4.50). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.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 Pirates page.
