CLEVELAND -- I hope Kumar Rocker likes french fries on his sandwiches.
A ninth inning collapse at Progressive Field Friday resulted in a 4-3 walkoff loss to the Indians. Nearly 1,200 miles away in Arlington, Texas, the Rangers walked off the Astros in a 5-4, extra-inning win.
In doing so, the Pirates have seemingly clinched the top overall pick in the 2020 amateur draft, and the rights to the Vanderbilt right-hander Rocker, who is almost universally regarded as the top prospect available.
The Pirates’ fell to 18-40, while the Rangers improved to 20-38, both with two games to play this season. If they finish with the same record, the team worse record the year prior has the tiebreaker, which would be the Pirates.
Even with the worst record, there is a slim chance that the Pirates may not get the top pick if there is a rule change, which commissioner Rob Manfred has the power to do. The league and players are operating under a March agreement for this season which states that if the season is less than 80 games, Manfred has the power to change the draft order.
However, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, that provision was added mostly as a contingency if the season was not completed, and that it is “highly likely” the team with the worst record will pick first.
So here are the spoils of enduring more losses than any other club this season:
The 6-foot-4, 255-pound 20-year-old has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and a wipeout slider. While some scouts and prospect outlets feel he has already done most of his developing as a pitcher at Vanderbilt, there’s no question that he has front of the rotation, if not ace, stuff.
Some of the highlights on his resume include his 19 strikeout no-hitter during the 2019 NCAA tournament, being named the freshman of the year by Baseball America and D1Baseball.com and being ranked as the third best college player in 2020 by Baseball America. The only two ahead of him were Spencer Torkelson and Austin Martin, who were selected first and fifth in the 2020 draft, respectively.
The draft will take place during All-Star week next year, from July 11-13. It will be the first time the Pirates had the first overall pick since they took Gerrit Cole in 2011.
But excuse the players and coaches if they aren’t celebrating potentially getting the impact pitching prospect the organization needs.
The top overall pick looked to be locked up earlier this week after the Pirates lost 13 of 14 games, but three straight wins against the Cubs to close out their home schedule, plus three Rangers losses, put it in jeopardy entering the final series of the season.
While some fans argued that a few more wins at the end of a season where they had long been eliminated from any postseason contention would be more damaging than beneficial in the long run, the players in the clubhouse didn’t buy into a “tank.”
“Losing is never an OK thing,” Derek Shelton said before the game. “I think the fact that fans are passionate about things, that’s great, but losing is not an OK thing. We’re going out every night and playing hard.”
VANDERBILT ATHLETICS
Kumar Rocker.
• Shelton delivered the line deadpan, with just a hint of humor and genuinity, when asked what he would like to see in Mitch Keller's final start of the season Friday afternoon.
“I’d be really happy if he did what he did in his last start," Shelton said, referencing his six no-hit innings on Sept. 19.
In one way, Keller did replicate it, not allowing a hit in his five innings of work, but that came at the cost of eight walks.
"Obviously we’d prefer more strikes, but I think it just shows to the quality of his stuff," Shelton said. "The fact that he ends the season with 11 straight no-hit innings, that’s pretty damn good.”
Both Shelton and Keller said something was off for him mechanically. Shelton believed it could have been something with his landing foot, but Keller disagreed.
"Something was off with myself, the mound, the view," Keller said. "I don’t know. Something was off. It just didn’t feel the same."
Regardless, there are worse ways to go into the offseason than with two no-hit outings. In fact, the last National League pitcher to go at least five no-hit frames in back-to-back outings was Johnny Vander Meer in 1938.
"Even with those walks, I found a way to get through it," Keller said of his outing. "I found a way to only let them score one and keep us in it. We were winning for a while there. So that’s just the main thing for me — keeping us in it."
• The no-hit bid was taken all the way into the seventh inning, until Delino DeShields pushed a bunt between Sam Howard, who was falling off to the other side of the mound, and Colin Moran. Both went to field it, expecting to throw it to the other covering the base. It didn't happen:
After they got back to the dugout, Shelton told Howard that he would like to see him try to field the ball and beat the runner to the bag next time.
"I don't know if I would have got him," Howard said. "I wish I would have tried."
It's an unwritten rule not to bunt to try to break up a no-hitter, but with a runner on first and one out, a well-placed bunt could at least move the runner into scoring position.
Shelton and Howard took no issue with the bunt.
"It's a smart play by a hitter," Howard said. "Push bunt on a lefty pitcher, he put it in the right spot and I don't know if either one of us could have got him."
• That's four times in the past week where the Pirates at least flirted with a no-hitter: The two Keller starts, plus Steven Brault took one into the fifth and Chad Kuhl the sixth in their final outings of the season.
"It’s exciting," Shelton said about the string of bids. "When your guys go out there and execute pitches and are able to keep guys off base, yeah, I’m digging it.”
• Richard Rodriguez was not available to pitch after being used three times in five days, so Shelton had to rely on Chris Stratton for a two inning save.
While he got through the eighth without issue, he could not protect a two run lead in the ninth. Jordan Luplow started the damage with a run scoring double, and later came home after a DeShields base hit.
DeShields advanced to second on a wild pitch, and Cesar Hernandez played the hero with a two out liner to right.
"Strat probably feels terrible, but he’s been nails all season for us," Keller said. "If there’s one guy that comes out of the ‘pen, I want him to come out of the ‘pen for us."
GETTY
Mitch Keller.
• The Pirates could have used a few more insurance runs, and had a golden opportunity in the sixth with the bases loaded and nobody out. However, Josh Bell struck out swinging, and while Gregory Polanco followed with a rocket, it was right to Hernandez, who started an inning-ending double play.
Shelton was more upset with the strikeout than Polanco's rip.
"We’ve got to have contact before that," Shelton said. "We didn’t get contact with no outs, and it’s vital there. They’re playing back. If we trade a double play for a run, we’re in good shape. We have to get contact there.”
Polanco did give the Pirates the lead in the fourth on a two run homer off Carlos Carrasco. Ke'Bryan Hayes tacked on a run in the eighth with a shift-beating base hit to right.
• A quick aside: A rotation headlined by Keller and Rocker is potentially really, really good. With Quinn Preister, Cody Bolton, JT Brubaker, Tahnaj Thomas, Brennan Malone and Carmen Mlodzinski in the mix, this rotation could be something special in two or three years.
• Factoid of the night: The last Pirates pitcher to walk eight batters in a game was Jason Schmidt on Sept. 18, 1998. The only other Pirates to walk at least eight and not surrender a hit were Dock Ellis on June 12, 1970 and Cliff Chambers on May 6, 1951.