Long before the conclusion of the Pirates’ walk-off win against the Giants, Miguel Yajure had reached a predetermined finish line. But the young right-hander proved why he could hang on a much longer track.
Although his opportunities were already limited, Yajure stifled the team with the National League’s best record to the tune of five one-hit innings in his second major-league start. He struck out four and was lifted after throwing just 57 pitches because of a five-inning cap the club imposed prior to the game.
“He was on what we're aiming at short rest, so we went into the game all along knowing that he was only going to throw five, that he was going to have five ups,” Derek Shelton said. “The fact that he was efficient as he was was extremely impressive. ... he went through that lineup and executed pitches. Outstanding outing for him.”
The line was one that most certainly could have been crossed. In addition to capping his workload, Shelton had also committed to the idea that the Pirates would not extend to a six-man rotation no matter how well the night panned out for the 23-year-old.
The skipper held his ground on the fact that a small sample such as one start would not sway his thinking in the matter.
“[If] he dominates. Yeah, I'm all in on that. Like, sign me up,” Shelton joked before first pitch the 3-2, 11-inning victory at PNC Park. “I think as of right now, though. No. You know, as we move forward, we will definitely look at things but as of right now, I don't see us changing [based on a] small sample.”
Well, Yajure did dominate. And he should have a heck of a lot more to show for it.
He faced just one more than the minimum, and yielded the only hit on a bleeder up the middle from opposing pitcher Kevin Gausman.
The Venezuelan right-hander threw 92 pitches in his most recent start for Class AAA Indianapolis five days ago, a game in which he took the loss as four Iowa pitchers no-hit the Indians. He found himself in a similar situation again Friday night, when the Bucs provided no run support and just two hits -- which both came from the eventual heroes of the evening, Adam Frazier and Gregory Polanco.
It’s been a disjointed season for Yajure, who made his Pirates debut in Detroit on April 21, and didn’t make another start until that outing against Iowa on May 9. But for the first time in a long time, he’s on regular rest. He needed a confidence boost after taking the loss in the outing in Detroit and found what he was looking for in that lone minor-league outing.
“Just finding myself and adjusting some things that I wanted to work on, and fix and being able to come out here and produce, and everything flow smoothly, it felt great,” Yajure said through team interpreter Mike Gonzalez.
Among the differences between his first start in Detroit and Friday night was the drastic increase in his four-seamer usage. He favored the cutter to the heater against the Tigers, and eventually unraveled at Comerica Park in the fifth. But he explained that a major component of his confidence on the mound was his ability to place his fastball where he wanted.
“This is something I've been working on for a while,” Yajure said. “Just mastering and getting more comfortable and confident with my fastball, and going into the game, I felt very confident, and just seeing it do it's work gave me even more of a boost of confidence as well.”
In a way, it didn’t truly matter in the short term how things went for Yajure. He would not be part of the rotation in the near future without some special circumstances like the ones that gave him his shot on Friday.
But, even though there’s a case to make for giving him one of the five rotation spots, Yajure should absolutely now be considered the sixth starter in the colloquial sense. Meaning, his phone should ring first if say, heaven’s forbid, whatever’s plagued the lineup hits the rotation. Or literally any other reason the Pirates should need someone outside of the group they have now and the injured Chad Kuhl.
His performance Friday should also signal to the organization that these spot starts that would allow them to, as they say, “back up” their rotation, meaning provide everyone an extra day of rest, should probably happen more than once a month.
Whatever gets Yajure on the major-league team more often should be a goal moving forward.
