NEW YORK -- Max Kranick said he didn't feel the pressure of trying to live up to his debut start, but it was something that was definitely on everyone's mind as he prepared for his second big-league outing.
"A couple of the guys were joking around about it that, after my first one, it’s only down from here," Kranick said with a chuckle. "Which I guess is kind of true."
It would be practically impossible to match those five perfect innings he threw in his debut against the Cardinals on June 27. Saturday was not perfect, but not horrible. He was lifted after three innings of three-run ball and took the loss in a 4-2, seven-inning decision against the Mets in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader.
The Pirates won the first game, 6-2, earning a split at Citi Field. That game was also seven innings.
Kranick, the club's 26th-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline, struck out five over those three frames while allowing four hits and walking three.
"The stuff was still good," Derek Shelton said. "I mean, we saw the good execution of the fastball, good slider. They just fouled off some pitches and he wasn't in the zone as much as he was the last time. The stuff still plays; it was just the fact that he was a little more scattered with his command."
Kranick was lifted in the fourth inning for pinch-hitter Wilmer Difo because the Pirates were trying to chip away at the Mets' lead and had a runner on base. Had it been a normal nine-inning game, Shelton said Kranick would have batted and continued pitching.
His night started shakily, as he was missing the edge of the strike zone with his fastball often in the first inning and walked a pair before Jeff McNeil pounced on a two-out changeup and put it into the gap for two runs.
There were good moments in that frame. Needing a big pitch against Pete Alonso, Kranick got the first baseman to swing through a fastball inside. But in the third inning, he went to the same spot again, but this time the slugger got his hands in and knocked it off the left field foul pole:
"[He's] a really advanced hitter and I got him with it in the first at bat, and he looked there in the second," Kranick said. "Got out really fast, and sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap."
It's a situation that Kranick, or any minor-league pitcher, could not experience in Indianapolis. It's why even though the night didn't go his way, there are many lessons to be learned.
"These are good learning experiences," Shelton said. "There's very few people that go out their very first start and go five perfect, so the fact that he had to grind through a lineup with some pretty accomplished hitters and they made him work, yeah, that's a good learning experience, and there's something he can definitely take out of this."
In the postgame Zoom, I asked Kranick what he took away from his first start, and what he thinks he'll take away from this one. They were different outings, but the lesson was the same: "Just continue to battle."
"These hitters are really, really good and they have a really good approach," Kranick said. "So just continue to battle. I think today, that was important for me to show. I know the first inning obviously didn’t go as planned, but I think I continued to battle. Just back to work tomorrow. It is what it is."
Shelton confirmed that this will be another spot start for Kranick, and that he will head back to Indianapolis to keep working. He alluded that Kranick could get another look in the majors before the season is through.
Finding another opportunity like that would be mutually beneficial for the player and the club.
MORE FROM THE GAMES
• In spring trainings past, Tyler Anderson would get questioned by teammates if he ever hit a home run. Anderson would respond that he had, in 2016.
At Coors Field.
"And everyone is like, ‘Oh, of course,' " Anderson said, jokingly dismissive.
Well, he can say he hit one out of a less hitter-friendly park now:
PITCHERS WHO RAKE!!! pic.twitter.com/RS0AQTQ5SK
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 10, 2021
That fifth inning blast broke a 2-2 tie and put Anderson in line for the win.
Off the bat, Anderson didn't know if he had enough. Even if he thought it might go out, he saw Bryan Reynolds get robbed of a homer by Mets centerfielder Brandon Nimmo in the first inning Saturday, so they could always potentially bring it back, too.
"As soon as I hit it, I was hoping it would get over the outfielder’s head," Anderson said.
It had plenty of distance.
"Really good swing," Shelton said. "He got it out front. Got it out in the air. Big swing at the time."
Anderson was pulled after five innings, and David Bednar and Richard Rodríguez closed out the final two frames.
"We had a stretch right there that we really liked Bednar, and he [Anderson] had given us five strong innings," Shelton said of the decision. "He's pitched really well for us all year. So we got him out and got the two backend guys in."
• The legend of John Nogowski grows.
Even though the first baseman went hitless in the second game Saturday, he racked up three more hits in the first one, including a two-run double in the fourth inning that got Mets starter Marcus Stroman out of his early groove.
Nogowski is 12-for-23 (a .522 average) since coming to the Pirates a week ago.
"Give credit to our baseball ops group and our scouts," Shelton said. "We identified a guy, he stepped right in and did a really nice job for us."
Reynolds, after being robbed of a homer in the first inning of game one, put one out of reach of Nimmo later in the sixth for a two-run blast.
In Game 2, Jacob Stallings hit his seventh homer and Reynolds had an RBI single. Those were the highlights of a poor offensive performance, as the Pirates mustered just five hits.
"We didn't put a ton of good at-bats together," Shelton said. "They kind of kept us off-balance most of the game."
• Growing up, Kranick and his family would make the trek from Scranton, Pa. to Shea Stadium almost every Sunday the Mets were at home.
So, to play in New York against the team he grew up rooting for?
"This was a circled series," he said with a smile.
There were plenty of Kranick jerseys in the stands, with about 30-40 friends and family members making the trip to see him pitch.
Any butterflies for a game like this?
"I think any time I take the big league mound, there are going to be butterflies," he said. "Today was definitely a little bit more special being here in New York, close to home, against a team I grew up liking."
THE ESSENTIALS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card for Game 1:
1. Adam Frazier, 2B
2. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Ben Gamel, LF
5. John Nogowski, 1B
6. Wilmer Difo, RF
7. Michael Pérez, C
8. Cole Tucker, SS
9. Tyler Anderson, LHP
And for Luis Rojas's Mets in Game 1:
1. Brandon Nimmo, CF
2. Francisco Lindor, SS
3. Dominic Smith, LF
4. Pete Alonso, 1B
5. Kevin Pillar, RF
6. Jonathan Villar, 3B
7. Jose Peraza, 2B
8. Tomas Nido, C
9. Marcus Stroman, RHP
Shelton's card for Game 2:
1. Kevin Newman, SS
2. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Ben Gamel, LF
5. John Nogowski, 1B
6. Rodolfo Castro, 2B
7. Jacob Stallings, C
8. Jared Oliva, RF
9. Max Kranick, RHP
And for Rojas and the Mets in Game 2:
1. Brandon Nimmo, CF
2. Francisco Lindor, SS
3. Dominic Smith, LF
4. Pete Alonso, 1B
5. Jeff McNeil, 2B
6. Michael Conforto, RF
7. Jonathan Villar, 3B
8. James McCann, C
9. Tylor Megill, RHP
THE SCHEDULE
The first half of the Pirates' season will come to a close Sunday afternoon in their finale against the Mets. Chase De Jong (1-3, 5.08) will take on a Mets starter who is still to be determined. First pitch will be at 1:10 p.m.
It's also day one of the amateur draft. We will have coverage throughout the day. That will get started at 7 p.m.
IN THE SYSTEM
THE CONTENT
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