As the Pirates go deeper into their rebuild, it’ll be telling to see how other teams, like the Marlins -- who have gone to that well quite a few times -- restructure their core.
All weekend, the return of Ke’Bryan Hayes has helped confirm the idea that he will be central to the Pirates’ foundation. Couple that with Bryan Reynolds and a few others, and it seems the present and sustainable strength might be some tremendous offensive talent.
Across the dugout Sunday was a team riding an eight-game losing streak. They were walked off on the same field a day before. And they were in danger of being the first team to be swept by the Pirates this season.
Fortunately for Don Mattingly’s club, Sandy Alcantara stepped up and did not allow an earned run over eight innings to defeat the Pirates, 3-1, at PNC Park on Sunday afternoon. The Pirates got a truly encouraging performance out of Chad Kuhl, and Colin Moran provided an RBI double on the first pitch he saw after a near-month-long stay on the injured list. But the club ultimately fell to 23-35 on the season.
Alcantara struck out six and allowed as many hits, but he showed the Pirates something they’re missing this season that will be crucial for the team to ramp up to sustainable success. Alcantara showed how to be a rotation stopper. Not necessarily an ace, but a guy that a ball club and its fan base actually look forward to seeing every five days. One that provides a sense of confidence, even if a team begins to skid off the runway.
“He’s just got really good stuff,” Moran said. “It was tough to cover that much mile per hour. You have 99 that can be at the top of the zone and changeups that are looking like it’s going to be a fastball down and fall out of the zone. He had some good stuff.”
There are a few candidates presently on the roster, and ample opportunity to step into that role. And Moran’s assessment of Alcantara should sound familiar to anyone that’s read a report on, say, Mitch Keller or at one point in time, Kuhl.
Odds are that the Pirates’ rotation stopper of the future, whenever that is, is kicking around Greensboro or Altoona right now and will need to be developed. Like maybe Roansy Contreras or Quinn Priester. That's the way the Marlins did it. And with Sixto Sanchez and Max Meyer still among their prospect ranks, the Pirates seem to be at least trying to follow that path.
But is there a chance that this obviously, incredibly important role might be filled by a guy that’s going to see this team through its lean years?
Keller, based on his stuff, could probably force himself into consideration. JT Brubaker has been that guy in spurts this season, so he’s likely the frontrunner. Maybe it can be Steven Brault when he comes back from his oblique strain.
Maybe, it could be their opening day starter: Kuhl.
On Sunday, Kuhl showed what it looks like when he’s actually effective. It took another stint on the injured list, and some mechanical tweaks geared toward stabilizing his front side on his landing spot, but he easily made his best start of the year.
He’s been both frustrated and frustrating for a while now -- pitching around injuries and having a wild arm. Kuhl lowered his ERA to 5.61 after yielding two earned runs on just three hits over six innings.
After Sunday’s performance and his first start off the IL this past Monday in Kansas City, Kuhl has clearly figured some things out. He hasn’t thrown any changeups in those two starts, and it’s not because he junked the pitch entirely. It’s just gotten to the point in his career where he better recognizes what will and will not be effective.
“Last game was more of pitching to their weakness and pitching to my strength, with slider and curveball,” Kuhl said. “Today was just one of those things where we had the two-seam going and got guys on the ground with the slider so, just didn’t throw any.”
Kuhl already possesses a pretty nasty slider that, when not left out over the plate and drilled 444 feet by Jesus Aguilar, is certainly his best offering. He’s thrown that breaking pitch more than any other, even on a day when Derek Shelton made note of improved fastball command.
“Any game, I feel like I have good command with it. Today, it got me a ton of quick outs. It got me back into counts. It’s just kind of a pitch that does everything,” Kuhl said.
In terms of the growth and adjustments, Kuhl said something very interesting about his slider that sort of flies in the face of the modern art of pitching. He explained that in his previous start against Kansas City he was getting too many whiffs on the slider. Those pitches that were intended to produce weak contact instead prolonged his outing.
“It’s just one of those pitches where if it’s 2-0 or 3-1 or 3-2, I feel like I just have the confidence even when I’m behind in counts to throw the slider at any time, get action or just throw it for strikes,” Kuhl said.
Kuhl mostly accomplished his goal with the offering on a near-90-degree afternoon. He worked an efficient count of 82 pitches and 54 strikes over the six frames.
Much like Keller, there haven’t been too many sightings of instances where he’s pitched with confidence and conviction. He often looks tortured on the mound. Flustered with little composure. Passion is great, and he has plenty. But a more confident Kuhl can stick as a veteran presence when the young guns in the system are ready to join the big-league club.
MORE FROM THIS GAME
• Just like Hayes before him, Moran hit the ground running in his first game back from the injured list. He rung up his 20th RBI on the first pitch he saw from Alcantara after Adam Frazier and Hayes strung together a couple singles -- even if the latter of which was something of a swinging bunt.
“It was fun just to play baseball again. I enjoyed being on a baseball field, even at the rehab assignment,” Moran said. “Taking time off was tough because I just enjoy playing baseball.”
The double was Moran’s only hit in four at-bats. He was also tested in the field early and often. Jazz Chisholm Jr. bounced the first pitch of the game out to Moran at first, and Corey Dickerson also fed him a grounder in the opening frame.
“It’s nice to get a little action over there. That always happens. It always finds the guy,” Moran had been out since May 9 with a groin strain. Then he played three rehab games with Class AAA Indianapolis. He said it was his first lower-body muscle injury and had to suffer through a much more deliberate rehab process.
After returning for just one game following a near-month-long absence, Moran already felt the sense that the Pirates lineup is nearing its full potential.
“We have some good hitters on the team, so it’s fun to be in the same lineup with everybody,” Moran said. “The top of the lineup and the bottom of the lineup are doing well, so I think it’s kind of just passing the baton to each other and keep moving the line.”
Moran should likely remain in that cleanup spot behind Bryan Reynolds. Right now, the Pirates have really accomplished the sort of lineup stability that all teams strive toward, at least at the top of their order.
• The Pirates fell just short of the sweep but wouldn’t have been in the position to do so had it not been for an incredible and taxing weekend from their bullpen. That unit covered 17 ⅔ innings in the first three games of the series, and could use all the help they could get.
Fortunately for the Pirates, Austin Davis was ready to be recalled from the 60-day IL following a handful of rehab outings in Indianapolis and low Class A Bradenton. And Luis Oviedo, who, like usual, hadn’t appeared in a game in nearly a week, was also available.
That duo covered the last nine outs with Davis retiring the side in order on just seven pitches in the seventh.
“He came right after guys. He pitched well in Indy [during] his rehab, executed pitches, was able to [locate] the breaking ball, and was extremely efficient,” Shelton said.
Oviedo compiled four strikeouts while pitching around a walk and a pair of hits over the final two frames. That tight-knit relief unit has easily been the most reliable for the Pirates this season. And that takes some weight off the shoulders of starters like Kuhl, who has developed a really strong appreciation for the relievers.
“We got a bunch of dogs out there, a bunch of guys that are really hungry, that feed off each other. The camaraderie is insane out there,” Kuhl said. “They’re all doing really well and feed off that and feed off each other. We’ve got a special group out there.”
• The shortstop position has mostly been a black hole offensively for the Pirates. But, it’s been easier to stomach thanks to defense being produced at the position. Namely, that’s Kevin Newman, who is the only regular shortstop in baseball without an error this season.
But now that Hayes and Moran have returned, Erik Gonzalez will likely play more of his natural position at short. He’s been tremendous with the glove at both corner infield spots throughout the past couple months. He went 1 for 3 as a fill in for Newman on Sunday but committed a costly error that allowed the difference-making run to score.
It’s just one error. Not the end of the world. And there are plenty more reasons to feel confident in the defense at the position. But with Newman batting .209 and Gonzalez at .215, the bloom comes off the rose pretty quickly with every defensive lapse.
Obviously a lot has been committed to both Newman and Gonzalez by the organization. And Gonzalez may be able to produce at a more effective rate now that he’ll go back to a bench role -- for which he’s better suited.
But it’s right around the point where the offensive production from the shortstop position rivals that of the original center-field platoon. The one which had both players optioned before the end of April.
Maybe it’ll help to have that strength back at the top of the order, but those guys need to produce quickly.
• The Pirates are looking at another roster crunch in the coming days. Phillip Evans went 1 for 3 with a walk while playing nine innings in left field during what should be one of his final rehab games after suffering a hamstring strain on May 12.
Evans’ return could spell the end of the line for Ben Gamel, Ka’ai Tom or maybe someone else off the bench. And if Keller, despite being placed on the COVID-IL on Sunday, can still make his Thursday start against the Dodgers, which Ben Cherington and Shelton think he might, that will lead to some more roster confusion.
THE ESSENTIALS
Box score
Video Highlights
Scoreboard
Standings
Statistics
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B
Bryan Reynolds, CF
Colin Moran, 1B
Gregory Polanco, RF
Erik Gonzalez, SS
Ben Gamel, LF
Michael Perez, C
Chad Kuhl, P
And for Mattingly's Marlins:
Jazz Chisholm Jr., SS
Starling Marte, CF
Corey Dickerson, LF
Jesus Aguilar, 1B
Jon Berti, 2B
Isan Diaz, 3B
Sandy Leon, C
Magneuris Sierra, RF
Sandy Alcantara, P
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates get the day off Monday before opening a three-game series with the Dodgers on Tuesday night. JT Brubaker is scheduled to make his first start since coming off the bereavement list last week. He'll be opposed by Walker Buehler with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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