In addition to the rash of injuries plaguing the Pirates’ position player group, a Wednesday afternoon game in the middle of a busy stretch provided a unique opportunity to make a bad lineup worse.
And although the journey might have been a surprise, the destination could have probably been predicted before the game, as the Pirates dropped a 5-1 decision to the Reds at PNC Park. The loss puts the Buccos back to six games under .500 at 15-21 and just 1-5 against Cincinnati this year.
There were a few important names missing from the original lineup, but, as previously discussed, that should not signal the end of the world.
Adam Frazier was supposed to get a day of rest for the first time since the previous series finale against the Reds on April 7. Bryan Reynolds has been suffering through bouts of, what the team continues to call, “lower-body soreness” that kept him out of two games this weekend in Chicago. And Jacob Stallings should get a natural day game off after a night game, especially with four games in as many days upcoming.
With those three out, the rest of the order truly barren -- just Kevin Newman and Gregory Polanco were the only members of the opening day lineup to start Wednesday. Expectations couldn’t have been lower for a group whose batting average leaders were Wilmer Difo at .250 and Phillip Evans at .213 entering the game.
Yet somehow, they gave themselves chances to score runs against a good pitcher in Cincinnati’s Sonny Gray. But even though it’s a good sign to have those opportunities -- which, if you can remember, was the sentiment on opening day -- in games like this, that absolutely must be capitalized upon. Instead, the Pirates went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, including the three at-bats they had with the automatic runner on second base in the extra inning.
“I don’t think we could ask for any more. We have to score. We have to find a way to get runs across,” Derek Shelton said. “We had opportunities, especially against Sonny Gray, to put people on base, which people have not done in the last couple of years.”
There’s a sentiment that still rings true from Sunday in which it’s worth predicting that, should the Pirates’ rebuild ever work out, these lineups might signal as close to rock bottom as they ever got in the rebuild.
Without Reynolds or Stallings, it’s unlikely that anybody in this lineup will be around for the Pirates’ next playoff series. With no real glimpse into the future presently on the field, it’d just be nice to see something unexpected, and maybe a victory. On Wednesday, they provided the unexpected, but not the victory.
“Obviously we want to, we do our best to get [RISP] in,” said Newman, who scored the Pirates’ only run in the fifth inning. “But sometimes you've got to tip your cap when he makes the pitches, so flush it and work on it and come back ready to score.”
This team, or, more accurately, a much healthier version of this team, already showed they have an ability to surprise people, poking their heads above .500 earlier this season. And without continuing to defy what’s become incredibly low expectations and very few appearances from players -- whether it’s because of injuries or anything else -- that will be part of their future, does the product at PNC Park even measure up to the product in Greensboro or Altoona?
Take get-away day for what it is, and just get away from this team for a day. Do something else with your evening to forget this lineup ever existed. And then maybe one day, this will again be a signal of how far they’ve come.
MORE FROM THIS GAME
• Much like the young Mitch Keller, the veteran Trevor Cahill has similarly alternated between encouraging and disappointing starts. But with the getaway day Wednesday, the 33-year-old right-hander put together his best start of the season on the heels of another strong outing in Chicago this past weekend.
The tale of the tape in the pregame didn’t inspire much confidence. A veteran with a 6.75 ERA would face a lineup that scored double-digit runs in three of the past four games against the Pirates.
But Cahill had his way with the Reds for most of the afternoon. He yielded a solo shot to Mike Moustakas. That came on a knuckle-curve that was actually well-placed on the lower-outside corner. Moustakas had to reach across and yanked it over the FedEx sign in right-center for his 600th career RBI.
“I tried to throw a good, my two-strike one,” Cahill said after explaining that he opened the at-bat with a “get-me-over” curveball. “And I feel like I actually located it. ... you just tip your cap. He gets paid a lot of money to hit those. … if I could take that pitch back without the result, I would say, ‘yeah, like let's throw that pitch,’ and just, he beat me.”
The homer was really Cahill’s only blip ,as he matched his season-best with 5 ⅓ innings. He settled in to allow just three total hits while recording 11 of 16 outs on grounders.
“I know my stuff plays, usually on the ground,” Cahill said. “And hopefully I can sneak some lazy fly outs in there. But usually, like, when I'm trying to put it in play, it's on the ground.”
That second-inning blast was Moustakas’ seventh hit in 10 at-bats against Cahill throughout their careers. It seemed he put another charge into one in the fourth, following Nick Castellanos’ lead-off single. But Cahill put a cutter right on the spot his catcher Michael Perez had his glove, and the pitch ran in just enough to jam Moustakas and get him to fly to center.
“Definitely got a little bit more stingy with the curveball,” Cahill recalled. “Put down the cutter, and I decided to throw a good one, and I was able to execute and get an out. Just trying to execute pitch after pitch and hope for the best. That's the name of my game.”
Although it bucked the trend, that flyout was the first in a run of six of seven consecutive batters retired to complete his outing. Cahill lowered his ERA to a still disappointing 5.97 on the season, but he’s allowed just three total runs in his past two starts, spanning 10 ⅓ innings.
He was just 74 pitches into his outing before being lifted in favor of Sam Howard in the sixth.
• Since the second game of the season, Evans has been getting his opportunities. Even as the team has finally added actual outfielders to the roster and Evans did a complete 180 from his first couple successful weeks at the plate, Evans got more opportunities at first base when Colin Moran went down with a groin injury.
But now it seems like he might miss some time as well after he was lifted for a pinch runner in the fifth inning with left hamstring discomfort. Erik Gonzalez replaced him at first base, a position he last played in 2018, and Frazier took his spot in the order, where he proceeded to go 0-for-2 to snap a 12-game hitting streak.
• Is Ka’ai Tom’s patience testing your patience? It probably shouldn’t. Although it may seem like Tom is selective to a fault, the numbers prove he has a decent handle on things at the plate. The 26-year-old holds a .386 on-base percentage in his first 44 plate appearances with the team, and will likely continue to be the team's starting left fielder going forward, especially with Evans potentially sidelined.
Frazier will likely return to his place at the top of the order for the series opener Thursday against the Giants. But Tom draws enough walks and works deep counts to lengthen at-bats well enough to continue getting regular chances, which won’t come as easy now that there are actually five natural outfielders on the active roster.
He showed how frustrating he can be for opposing pitchers in his 10-pitch battle with Gray in the fifth inning. Tom fell behind, 0-2, but worked the count full before eventually flying to left on the 10th pitch.
That may not seem like much, but the next three hitters, Newman, Evans and Polanco, each singled off Gray with the last hit plating the Pirates’ only run. Polanco’s hit was his first since returning from the injured list Monday, and the seventh of the game against Gray, which snapped a 48-start streak in which the Reds’ righty has allowed six hits or fewer, dating back to Aug. 25, 2018.
• The Pirates got scoreless appearances from five different relievers, including one-hit frames from both Richard Rodriguez and David Bednar. Rodriguez put himself in line for the win in the ninth and lowered his ERA to 0.60, while Bednar recorded all three hits via strikeout, ending with a 99.6 mph fastball past Eugenio Suarez.
Duane Underwood Jr. took to the loss for the Pirates after getting knocked around in the extra inning.
“I think it was missed location and pitch selection,” Shelton said. “I think our pitch selection could have been a little bit better there.”
Jesse Winker gave the Reds the lead with a base hit to score the automatic runner on the third pitch of the inning and Suarez cleared the loaded bases with a double to bring the game to its final score.
After a strong start to the season, Underwood has seen his ERA balloon to a 4.82 mark, and that’s not including the seven of eight inherited runners that have scored against him this season -- the automatic runner in extras does not count in this scenario.
THE ESSENTIALS
Box score
Video Highlights
Scoreboard
Standings
Statistics
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Ka'ai Tom, LF
Kevin Newman, SS
Phillip Evans, 1B
Gregory Polanco, RF
Erik Gonzalez, 3B
Wilmer Difo, 2B
Ben Gamel, CF
Michael Perez, C
Trevor Cahill, P
And for David Bell's Reds:
Nick Senzel, 2B
Jesse Winker, LF
Nick Castellanos, RF
Mike Moustakas, 1B
Tyler Naquin, CF
Eugenio Suarez, 3B
Tyler Stephenson, C
Kyle Farmer, SS
Sonny Gray, P
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates welcome the Giants to town for a four-game weekend series beginning Thursday night. The rookie Wil Crowe (0-1, 4.02 ERA) searches for his first win against right-hander and former division foe Anthony DeSclafani (2-1, 2.40 ERA). First pitch at PNC Park is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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