CINCINNATI -- For the second day in a row, the Pirates’ loss to the Reds Friday at Great American Ball Park was sealed before the end of the second inning.
JT Brubaker was crushed for nine runs over five innings Friday, doing most of the damage in a 10-0 decision.
The days of April where it looked like Brubaker was on the cusp of a breakout campaign seem so long ago now. He’s battled home run problems throughout the second half of the year, and his ERA has jumped up to 4.95.
After a prolonged slump, Brubaker turned in one of his best starts of the season in his last outing on July 31, giving six innings of one-run, three-hit ball. It was one step forward that he took back this time out, with the first inning capped by a three-run homer by catcher Tucker Barnhart to make it 7-0 with only one out on the ledger. In the second, he was touched up for another homer and two more runs.
Primarily a fastball, slider pitcher, Brubaker can almost always rely on having at least one in a given start. On Friday, both got hit early and often. The Tucker home run was a hanging slider left right down the middle:
Tuck Everblasting. 💣 pic.twitter.com/JoCaNaVybS
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 6, 2021
The second inning shot by Jesse Winker was a sinker that was left up.
He did manage to battle through and give five frames to save some middle relief, but it was nothing more than a footnote to how his day started.
“I think the first two innings, he got really sped up and lost his delivery a little bit, lost command of his pitches,” Derek Shelton said. “... It looked like he just lost his delivery and command, and because of that, balls ended up being in the middle of the plate.”
Brubaker had the same takeaway.
“Pitches start getting flat, start getting up in the zone,” he said. “I got sped up and I was just trying to get the ball in play, get the double play ball instead of just focusing on execution. Even though I was convicted on the pitches, it was just kind of up and flat and my body was sped up, so it was a hit parade there in the first.”
A start like this comes with the dog days of August. The concern wasn’t so much how he performed in just one game, but his sluggish July as a whole.
Workload concerns have been brought up with him. While he did pitch through the abbreviated season last year, this is the first time Brubaker has gone through the ebbs and flows of a 162-game season. If this was last year, the regular season would have ended before this slump really picked up. He didn’t even really get much of that in the upper-levels of the minors after missing almost all of 2019 due to an elbow injury.
Shelton has said in the past that Brubaker is very teachable when it comes to outings like this. Postgame Friday, I asked how he manages the ups and downs of a season like this.
“It’s a roller coaster,” Brubaker answered. “I guess you can enjoy the climb up and hope you can continue to climb up. And then when you start to go down and your stomach starts to drop on a rollercoaster, you hope that it’s just a small one and you can start on the climb up. They happen. Ups and downs happen. It’s just part of development. Taking away from today, I’m just making sure I don’t get sped up. Hopefully, after today I went for a little downfall and then I’ll be on the climb up coming next start.”
Brubaker is in a rut and there are workload management concerns looming off in the distance for him, though Shelton said there are no plans to shut him down. He’s also one of a handful of pitchers on this staff that is expected to still be a contributor two or three years from now.
It doesn’t mean it will be as easy as it looked like it will be back in April. Buckle up, just in case that roller coaster goes up or down.
GETTY
JT Brubaker.
2. After his second at-bat Thursday, Ke’Bryan Hayes went back to look at some video. Not from the game, but from when he returned from the injured list in June.
He hadn’t felt comfortable at the plate for a couple weeks, so he wanted to look at his setup from back then. He noticed how wide his stance was and where his hands were at and tried to replicate it.
He snapped an 0-for-19 streak in his next at-bat Thursday, and after a cage session that he thought was productive, Hayes had two more singles Friday.
"It's not even so much the hits,” Hayes said. “It's just being able to hit it hard. My second at-bat, the ball that I hit to left, even though it was an out, it was one of the hardest balls -- and it was on the pull side -- that I've hit in a while. Just going up there feeling comfortable has me in a better mindset of when I want to hit, being able to get the pitch that I want to hit and being able to put a good swing on it."
The pull side has been a problem for Hayes this year. As DK put in his last column from Milwaukee, Hayes does not have a hit to left field this year. A couple rips there instead of all of them going to right or center could help him tap into his power more.
Hayes had two hits Friday, as did Rodolfo Castro. That was all of the Pirates’ offense from Friday that was worthy of documentation.
3. When the Pirates traded Adam Frazier, they dealt away not only their second baseman, but their leadoff hitter. While they’re pretty well covered in terms of middle infield depth, they didn’t really have a clear choice to replace him. Shortly after the trade, Shelton said they would mix it up at the top.
Ok, but can we exclude Kevin Newman up there. He’s not a leadoff hitter. Of all the things a leadoff hitter has to do, the most important is to get on base. Of the 138 hitters across baseball who qualify for a batting title, his .258 on-base percentage is dead last. That includes an 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Friday.
Unless he actually starts showing something at the dish, Newman needs to stay in the bottom-third of the lineup. And no, that 8-for-22 stretch he was on over his last seven games entering Friday isn’t enough.
4. Shelton and Ben Cherington have cited Kyle Keller as someone who could get some late inning opportunities after the bullpen was shaken up at the trade deadline. While he played well in Class AAA, he served up a homer Friday and now has a 7.20 ERA in the majors.
Outside of the new back three of David Bednar, Chasen Shreve and Chris Stratton, I’d rather see a rookie like Nick Mears get some leverage spots instead. Maybe a little Anthony Banda too, just to see what the waiver claim can bring to the table.
5. Hoy Park came off the bench in the seventh and doubled in his only at-bat. He’s now 6-for-17 with four doubles and a couple walks with the Pirates.
This is about as mild of a hot take you can make, but the Pirates need to play him. He can slide in to just about any position besides pitcher, catcher or first. There should always be playing time available.
Park needs to be one of the guys who is getting those opportunities. The same goes for fellow trade deadline acquisitions Michael Chavis and Tucupita Marcano once they come up.
6. Before the game, the Pirates placed Ben Gamel on the injured list with hamstring tightness.
He’s been a pleasant surprise for a team that desperately needs plus bats and outfielders. After being designated for assignment earlier this year, he’s found success with a more open stance and is pulling more line drives and fly balls.
Again, if he’s going to be down for a while, that means there’s playing time to be had in left field. Park has more appeal than Phillip Evans, who already got his long look and started in left Friday. He went 1-for-3 with a single.
7. To take Gamel’s place on the roster, the Pirates activated Colin Moran, who had been out since June 28 with a left wrist injury.
Usually one of the more durable players on the team, it’s been a battle staying upright this year for Moran. His first trip to the injured list was for a left groin strain, and he also missed some time with a lower back and finger injury.
“It’s been frustrating,” Moran said on the field at Great American Ball Park before the game. “At the same time, stuff happens. I’m just trying to look forward and not dwell too much on being out.”
Those injuries have taken a toll on his season slashline, and after a hot start, he now has a pretty pedestrian .278/.343/.411 line. A return to form would be a much-needed boost for the lineup.
Moran was used as a pinch-hitter Friday, bouncing a ball back to the pitcher for a double play.
8. Ok, some good news, even if we have to go to the minors for it. Miguel Yajure made his return to game action Friday, pitching 1 ⅔ innings for the Bradenton Marauders.
Put him in the “play the kids” camp once that rehab assignment is complete. A couple starts in the majors to close the year can only be a good thing. Perhaps he builds up a head of steam for an opening day spot in 2022.
9. I’ve written a couple times that I think Luis Oviedo has the potential to be a good major league pitcher, but this year is a grind to get through. He’s 22 and never pitched above Class A before this year. There are going to be obvious growing pains.
Those pains were obvious in his first two appearances after being activated off the injured list. In the first, he allowed eight runs while only pitching one inning, and in the second he couldn’t even get an out.
So even if it was in an extreme mop up role, two scoreless innings on 25 pitches with three strikeouts Friday was a definite step in the right direction. The curveball looked nasty, something that had been missing from his last couple outings.
“If you want to talk about a developmental win or something very positive, tonight it's Oviedo,” Shelton said. “His last outing five days ago, he gets no outs [on] 27-30 pitches. Today, he goes through two innings, commands the ball. So the stuff that we're working on the side translates in. Sometimes that stuff doesn't happen instantaneously, but tonight is definitely a developmental win.”
Shelton had previously mentioned Oviedo’s delivery and arm action as areas they had been working on with him.
Oviedo is going to spend a lot, if not all, of 2022 in the minors. Right now, the Pirates are focusing on getting him through the season’s home stretch to shed that dreaded Rule 5 status.
10. In five games in Cincinnati, the Pirates have been outscored 47-12.
They still have five more games to go at Great American Ball Park.
That is all.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Kevin Newman, SS
2. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. John Nogowski, 1B
5. Jacob Stallings, C
6. Gregory Polanco, RF
7. Rodolfo Castro, 2B
8. Phillip Evans, LF
9. JT Brubaker, RHP
And for David Bell's Reds:
1. Jonathan India, 2B
2. Jesse Winker, LF
3. Nick Castellanos, RF
4. Joey Votto, 1B
5. Mike Moustakas, 3B
6. Kyle Farmer, SS
7. Tyler Naquin, CF
8. Tucker Barnhart, C
9. Wade Miley, LHP
THE SCHEDULE
Mitch Keller (3-8, 7.05) will make his second start in his second stint in the majors this year. He'll be opposed by Vladimir Gutierrez (6-3, 4.39), with first pitch coming you way at 7:10 p.m. I'm still in Cincinnati and have you covered.
IN THE SYSTEM
THE CONTENT
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