MIAMI -- Derek Shelton wasted no time in the postgame Zoom call before he expressed just how good that performance was.
"That was about as well as we can pitch,” he said. “That was outstanding. Every guy that came in executed pitches and followed the game plan. I don't know if we can pitch a game better than that throughout.”
So even on a sluggish night for the offense, that pitching carried the Pirates to a 2-1 win over the Marlins at loanDepot Park Friday evening, starting the final road trip of the season on the right foot.
While Shelton called on five different pitchers Friday, it was the first and last ones that carried the win. Wil Crowe gave five very strong innings before being lifted in the sixth for strictly offensive purposes, and Chris Stratton walked the tightrope to get the save in the ninth.
Crowe has had ups and downs in 2021, but this was one of his finest performances in the majors, walking just one with three hits and five strikeouts. Three of his five innings were 1-2-3 frames.
He did it primarily with his slider and changeup. Crowe came into the game focusing on how those pitches tunnel off of his sinker. While his fastballs had a hard time hitting the edge of the zone on his hand side, he was able to fill up the lower part of the zone with sliders and get whiffs with the changeup.
“We threw what we had today and what we thought was going to work for us, and that’s just how it went,” Crowe said.
And those pitches, as Shelton pointed out, played when Crowe was behind in the count, mid-count or when he was trying to put away a hitter.
“[If] you're able to do all three things, you're going to be really effective, and Wil was really effective tonight,” Shelton said.
But if you thought the start was good, you have to see how it ended.
After Anthony Banda, Nick Mears and Chad Kuhl combined to throw three innings of one-hit ball to get to the ninth, Shelton turned to his de facto closer, Stratton, who immediately allowed a gap shot for a leadoff Bryan De La Cruz triple.
But he bounced back. Jesus Sanchez went down swinging against high heat. Lewis Brinson followed by chasing a breaking pitch in the dirt for another strikeout.
After a mound visit where Shelton, Jacob Stallings and Stratton decided to intentionally walk Lewin Diaz, Stratton uncorked one more filthy curve to end it:
Down goes Payton Henry.
“Complete trust in him,” Shelton said.
“It’s a testament to who he is, the way he works and the way he goes about his business,” Crowe said.
“We’re all huge Chris Stratton fans in here, in the clubhouse,” Cole Tucker joked.
Make that six saves on the season for Stratton, who has done everything from middle relief to fireman to closer late in the season. Many of those changes have come out of necessity after midseason trades and injuries.
What makes that ninth inning different?
“A little more adrenaline,” Stratton said. “It’s a lot more fun. The game’s on the line, the ball is handed to you and you’re going to get the final out. It’s a ton of fun. It’s definitely keeping me young – or making me old, I don’t know.”
That adrenaline spike might have been just what he needed. When he finally went up the stairs to the clubhouse after a postgame TV interview, he was greeted by his teammates who were waiting for him to celebrate the win. A win where the pitching carried the load.
“The most rewarding thing for us, or for me, is watching Strat give up that first hit and get out of it and get to come in the clubhouse and celebrate with 28-30 -- however many guys we’ve got in there -- of my best friends,” Crowe said.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• It won't show up in the scoresheet, but Stallings' blocking skills played a huge part in the ninth, allowing Stratton to continue to throw diving curves even with the tying run 90 feet away.
“He’s been doing it all year, bailing pitchers out of bad situations," Stratton said. "Not ideal to have the first guy on third base but just trusting him and knowing that it doesn’t matter what I throw there that he’s going to get in front of it. I think that he’s one of the best in the league at it [blocking].”
"I think all of our pitchers have complete confidence that regardless of where they throw the pitch, where it is, Stalls is either gonna catch it and put it in a good spot, or he's gonna block it," Shelton said.
Going by Baseball Prospectus' catcher defensive leaderboards, Stallings' 3.6 blocking runs are the sixth-best among catchers. Mix that in with everything else he does well defensively, and he is in good position to take home a Gold Glove at the end of the year.
• After a bizarre send in the first inning backfired spectacularly on a Cole Tucker base hit, with Colin Moran being thrown out at home by at least 30 feet, Tucker came through in the sixth to break the tie and give the Pirates the lead for good.
Tucker went 1-for-3 with the sacrifice fly and a lineout with a 104.4 mph exit velocity, so he was hitting the ball hard all day. Most of his focus has been on the foundation of his swing, including his foot and leg work.
"Tonight, those results showed up, but it’s an every day kind of work in progress of trying to find that, find my footing in the cage," Tucker said. "The work is there. The results are getting there. Just trying to piece it together."
• Make that seven wins in the Pirates' last 10 games, tied for the most in any 10-game stretch this season.
"I just think we’re trusting the process," Crowe said. "We’re all learning at the big league level. We have a lot of young guys, and we know that, but I think we’re figuring out who we are. We’re figuring out our identity. We’re figuring out how to play with one another. We’re just going out there every day and putting it all out there for the guy beside us."
• The Pirates have one member on their taxi squad for this trip: Max Kranick. They also do not have a starter in place for Sunday. Yet.
• Hey, it feels good to be activated off the injured list and get back in the office. Huge thank yous to DK and Jarrod Prugar are in order for pinch-hitting last week.
GETTY
Bryan Reynolds lines a double in the third inning Friday.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Yoshi Tsutsugo, RF
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Colin Moran, 1B
5. Jacob Stallings, C
6. Cole Tucker, SS
7. Anthony Alford, LF
8. Hoy Park, 2B
9. Wil Crowe, RHP
And for Don Mattingly's Marlins:
1. Miguel Rojas, SS
2. Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B
3. Bryan De La Cruz, CF
4. Jesús Sánchez, RF
5. Lewis Brinson, LF
6. Lewin Díaz, 1B
7. Payton Henry, C
8. Eddy Alvarez, 3B
9. Elieser Hernandez, RHP
THE SYSTEM
• Indianapolis
• Altoona
• Greensboro
• Bradenton
THE SCHEDULE
Game two of the weekend series will get underway at 6:10 p.m. Saturday, with Bryse Wilson (2-7, 4.97) taking on Edward Cabrera (0-1, 6.61).
THE CONTENT
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