CHICAGO -- This was the week that the Pirates’ starting pitching came around. Clearly, it’s been an otherwise unsuccessful stretch, now with eight losses in their past nine contests. But what was the club’s weakest unit during their more successful period in mid-April has shown the most promise lately.
And what the Pirates should probably take from this promising week, in which they've only been outscored by eight total runs in six games, is a confidence that Wil Crowe can be a regular in their starting rotation. Certainly, the Pirates will benefit from letting Crowe get comfortable in that role.
“It definitely is good to, you know, be on that normal routine,” Crowe said. “Every fifth game, going about it like that. You figure out what you know your body is doing. What your arm and what your pitches are telling you they're doing that day.”
On the bookends of a week which has seen the Pirates fall to 13-19 on the season, were a pair of pitching performances from two very different versions of Crowe.
The rookie right-hander, whom the Pirates acquired in the trade with the Nationals that sent Josh Bell packing, pitched the best game of his young major league career in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He was charged with two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out five. It was also just the sixth time a Pirates’ starter has completed at least six innings this season.
Beyond his ledger, however, Crowe displayed start-to-start growth that played out rather quickly.
In Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Cardinals at the end of the homestand, the 26-year-old pretty much had to rely on his fastball exclusively after failing to land his off-speed pitches. Fast forward just six days, and Crowe has everything working against the Cubs’ potent lineup.
Having full use of his repertoire allowed Crowe the ability to pitch to the game plan, limit hard contact, go deep into games and basically do what he wants -- even on a cold day in Chicago where the weather might have made it feel like a cue ball coming out of his hand.
“It keeps guys honest,” Crowe said. “When teams can eliminate pitches, they can sit on a fastball. They're big-leaguers. They're supposed to hit a fastball.”
The best example of Crowe’s potential when he has the breaking stuff working came in two strikeouts of Joc Pederson on Saturday. Once in the first, and another in the fifth. Both came on curveballs in the dirt. That’s a veteran hitter that just tore up a veteran pitcher, Trevor Cahill, to the tune of three hits one day prior. Here, a rookie gets him to go fishing:
It’s a very mature quality to both identify that a pitch isn’t working and make the decision to junk the offering. But being able to completely wipe a previous outing requires growth that could make or break a young player -- which the Pirates have seen and will continue to see a lot during their rebuild.
When it comes to hitting his spots, Crowe could not have made a better throw on the pick-off of David Bote in the fourth inning.
“I joked with [Kevin] Newman when he came back in the dugout and I said, ‘That’s the best pitch I’ve thrown all day,’” Crowe said.
Really, Newman didn’t have to do anything but catch it, and the throw couldn’t have been more on the money. Ending the fourth inning in that manner caused a ripple effect that should have worked out in the Pirates’ favor.
Nick Martini was at the plate hitting for starting pitcher and Pirates’ old friend, Trevor Williams. David Ross wanted Williams’ replacement Keegan Thompson to go multiple innings, so the reliever got an at-bat leading off the fifth inning. It was a real gift for a rookie who is about to face a very good lineup like the Cubs’ for a third time through the order to basically start with an automatic out.
“It flips things around,” Crowe said. “It gets the momentum going and keeps it up, and I think because we work on it so much, especially in spring, it’s just another thing that’s part of our job.”
The quick turn and throw was another example of the athleticism Crowe also displayed on a sliding snag of Javier Baez’s swinging bunt which eventually led to the Cubs’ first run in the opening inning.
• Prior to Friday’s game, Chad Kuhl patrolled the mound at Wrigley Field, where he threw the first pitch of the Pirates’ 2021 season, for live batting practice. Kuhl has been sidelined with right shoulder discomfort since April 22. But, based on how he looked in the live BP, and the reaction he received from Oscar Marin after his session, Kuhl could be on the verge of returning sometime soon.
Although it certainly might, Kuhl coming back should not impact Crowe’s standing in the rotation. But if the team insists on holding on to the veteran Cahill, Crowe is unfortunately the most attractive optionable pitcher.
• Looking at this recent stretch of ugly loss after ugly loss, it’s obvious that the Pirates’ need some of their regular hitters healthy in a bad way -- and maybe it can sync up this week’s starting pitching with the offense they displayed in mid-April.
“We just need a ball to fall,” Shelton said. “We won a couple games that same way this year. Tonight we got beat on it.”
Matt Duffy plated the go-ahead run on a blooper to right off of Clay Holmes that fell just beyond the reach of the Fraziers on the right side of the infield in the seventh inning. The run was charged to Sam Howard, who took the loss in the contest.
It’s already difficult enough without Ke’Bryan Hayes -- although they did find ways to win without him. But potentially losing Colin Moran is going to be a huge blow for the already-struggling Pirates.
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Moran exited in the first inning Saturday with left groin discomfort. Shelton said he didn’t know if the injury occurred on the catch of Jason Heyward’s bases-loaded liner or the glove-first dive to the first-base bag to try and double up Willson Contreras. Either way, the Pirates’ leader in just about every offensive category is day-to-day.
It was already an ugly enough card Shelton submitted Sunday with no Hayes, no Bryan Reynolds, no Jacob Stallings and no Gregory Polanco. Polanco and Hayes were obviously out on the IL, but a guy should be able to get a day off without the rest of the lineup crumbling like a house of cards.
Moran’s injury was a gale-force wind in that analogy. Especially as his present replacement, Todd Frazier, takes another 0-fer to drop to .032 (1-for-31) at the start of his Pirates’ tenure. It’s almost enough to think that there might be another veteran, former NL central rival -- this one with Hall of Fame pedigree -- that could be just as ineffective.
• Of all the rules in baseball that need to be revisited, the “right to the box” that a batter has should be among consideration. Sure, a batter can do whatever he wants, so long as he’s in the box. But it should probably be a judgement call if the batter does something besides stand still or attempt to get out of the way when a catcher needs to make a play, like the one that happened with Heyward and Michael Perez in the fourth inning.
Contreras was able to take second without a throw and then score on a short sacrifice fly. If that rule were different, he wouldn’t have been on third when Eric Sogard came to bat.
• Also, they’re obviously still human, and mistakes happen, but there seems to be something in just about every game that make the infielders the Pirates have playing the outfield really look like infielders playing the outfield.
On Saturday, it was Wilmer Difo’s triple-clutch before the throw home on Sogard’s sacrifice. Shelton said Difo simply didn’t get a good grip out of the glove. But it seems worse because he’s not a natural center fielder. Reynolds should be able to get a day off without things like this happening.
• The Pirates’ scored both of their runs on Ka’ai Tom’s first career homer in the fourth inning. After an inauspicious start, Tom has made it clear that he should be in the lineup everyday until everyone is healthy. He’s got the most patient approach at the plate, although he went away from that in a big spot Friday, and has really adjusted well in his two weeks with the Pirates.
“I'm very happy that I've been getting a lot of opportunities to start games and getting more at-bats and just kind of feeling out the game at the big league level and caught up to speed,” Tom said. “It has helped me a lot to get comfortable. I’ve got a good support from the staff, the coaches and the players. Knowing that everyone's around and supporting each other also helps, no matter what's going on.”
THE ESSENTIALS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Wilmer Difo, CF
Phillip Evans, RF
Colin Moran, 1B
Erik González, 3B
Ka'ai Tom, LF
Kevin Newman, SS
Michael Pérez, C
Wil Crowe, P
And for Ross' Cubs:
Joc Pederson, LF
Kris Bryant, CF
Javier Baez, SS
Anthony Rizzo, 1B
Willson Contreras, C
Jason Heyward, RF
David Bote, 3B
Eric Sogard, 2B
Trevor Williams, P
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will conclude their series with the Cubs and road trip with a Sunday matinee. Tyler Anderson (2-3, 3.24) will face Kyle Hendricks (2-3, 6.07), with first pitch coming at 2:20 p.m. Eastern. I'll be there to close this series out.
THE CONTENT
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