Cole Tucker knew he was on the bag. It doesn’t mean he wasn’t still sweating this call out.
He was stationed on third with one out in the ninth when Erik Gonzalez lifted a shallow fly ball to right. When the outfielder Shogo Akiyama caught it, Tucker was a bit surprised that he heard third base coach Joey Cora yelling "Go, go, go, go, go!"
So he went, went, went, went, went, and beat the throw. But halfway through the on-field celebrations, Reds manager David Bell went out to challenge that Tucker had left early.
“I knew I was on the bag, but the whole instant replay process is still nerve-racking, even if you know you’re on or off or you’re safe or whatever,” Tucker said. “It’s still nerve-racking seeing the umpires with the headsets on.”
The review was upheld, and the Pirates earned their series split with the Reds the 3-2 walk-off victory Sunday afternoon at PNC Park.
Before Gonzalez and Tucker, the win was made possible by six shutout innings from the bullpen.
“We needed to win that one. When you pitch that well, you’ve got to win ballgames,” Tucker said. “We did today.”
Starting pitcher Chad Kuhl was removed after 64 pitches, with Shelton saying he was on a 65 pitch limit. After throwing over 80 pitches in his last three starts, Shelton wanted him to have a “back down” day to manage his workload.
Kuhl’s afternoon was limited to just three innings mostly because he walked four. He allowed a two-run home run to Nick Castellanos in the third, providing the Reds with all the offense they would muster.
Kuhl knew that he was on a pitch count, as did the bullpen, who were staying ready.
“We all knew it was going to take a lot of us today and to be ready early because of his limited pitch count,” Sam Howard said. “It's easier to lock in. You just know from the first pitch that we're gonna be used. Overall, everybody just stays locked in. We talk about how the starter pitches the lineup the first time through, so we have our own gameplan when we go out there and face hitters.”
Geoff Hartlieb covered the fourth and fifth, followed by Howard in the sixth. Chris Stratton, Nik Turley and Richard Rodriguez each tossed a frame from there.
Hartlieb was the only one to allow a hit, and all five struck out at least one batter.
Over their last 19 games, the Pirates’ bullpen has pitched to a 2.74 ERA.
That kept the Pirates in the game after struggling against rookie Tejay Antone, who threw five innings of one run ball.
One of the few to hit him hard was Gonzalez, who went 2-for-4 with a hustle double in addition to his game-winning sacrifice fly, and extended his hitting streak to eight games.
For a player who came into the season without any guaranteed playing time, he has played himself into an everyday role.
He now leads the team in hits (33), batting average (.289) extra-base hits (14) and RBIs (18).
“He’s been outstanding,” Derek Shelton said, referring to Gonzalez’s season. “We’ve talked about opportunities. We’ve talked about meritocracy in terms of playing. He deserves to play. He’s done a really good job.”
Gonzalez has long believed that he could hit in the majors if he could play every day. That meritocracy Shelton referred to has given him that chance.
“You can make adjustments when you play every day,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, the first pitcher ... today got a good slider. I mean, for me, this year, that’s the best slider I’ve seen. But [if] I just keep playing, [I] can do an adjustment. I mean, that’s very important when you’ve got in the lineup every day.”
Gonzalez’s heroics were set up by Tucker, who shot a 2-2 fastball through the infield to plate Josh Bell and tie the game after originally being sent up to bunt, and some base running by Ke’Bryan Hayes.
With runners on second and third and nobody out, Hayes broke towards home on the contact play, but Kevin Newman’s bat shattered and pitcher Raisel Iglesias fielded it cleanly. Hayes was able to stay in a rundown long enough to make sure that Newman wound up at second, taking away the Reds’ potential double play.
“We’ve talked about Hayes doing a lot of good things,” Shelton said. “The thing that stood out to me the most is the baserunning. He stays in the rundown, does a nice job, gives us the opportunity for the infield to stay with a five-man and give us the opportunity to win.”
Factoid of the night: The Pirates are now 8-5 when catcher JR Murphy starts.
He went 0-for-3 with three swinging strikeouts and was pinch-hit for in the ninth.