Kovacevic: 'Phenomenal' defense offers Pirates, at the least, a fun foundation

Me: "Dude, how the ---- ?"

Ben Gamel: "No idea. None. For real."

Me: "How did you know what I was going to ... ?"

Gamel, now grinning: "Ha! I blacked out!"

Me: "Yeah, that pitch was diving down, probably headed into the dirt, and ..."

Daniel Vogelbach, seated at the next stall, observing all this in a bemused manner before tilting his head toward Gamel: "Wait, you're going with 'I blacked out?' That's your take? How's that going to look in his article?"

Well, I suppose it'll still look like a tone-setting three-run home run in the first inning:

And eventually, like this: Pirates 6, Cubs 2.

Yeah, it wasn't exactly the home opener, this Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park, other than the golden skies and temps into the 70s. No pomp, no pageantry, pretty much no people -- official attendance of 9,122 was, in reality, half that figure -- and, as a result, nowhere near the visceral impact this event might've made had it happened, oh, 24 hours earlier.

But hey, the tree really did fall in the figurative forest, and the home team really was ... um ... trying to find some responsible terminology here ... OK, I'll just blurt it out: The Pirates were damned good.

In all ways, too, but particularly in the field:

In order, that's Bryan Reynolds bolting back to the track, Kevin Newman with a brilliant snag up the middle, Ke'Bryan Hayes starting a 5-4-3 double play that Derek Shelton would call "the turning point of the game," and our man Gamel with a grass-eater of his own in right.

This beautiful game's changed a lot over a century and a half, but this much hasn't: A team's only as confident as its glovework.

"I don't get it. I just don't," Gamel would reply when I asked why it's become universally -- and I do mean universally -- accepted that the 2022 Pirates will be a six-month catastrophe. "We have good players in here. We have guys who can do it all. We have guys who want to win. I love this team. I really do. And I can't wait to see what we can do."

That sentiment, it's safe to say, is as universal in this clubhouse as the pessimism is on the outside. Every player with whom I've broached this subject, beginning with conversations in Bradenton, Fla. -- on and off the record -- seems legit blown away by the perceptions of this being another 100-plus-losses roster. Or anything in the solar system of that. It's something Mitch Keller and I have been discussing a lot, since the start of spring, this concept that all it could take is a modest wave of individuals improving -- with him, obviously, at the forefront -- and that coalescing into something collective that no one could've seen coming.

I'm not there at this stage, to be kind. I'm not optimistic about any single facet of this team beyond the defending, and that's not exactly some bold stance in that the Pirates were tied at No. 1 in all of Major League Baseball in fielding percentage in 2021 and, of course, in that they've individually got Hayes, Reynolds, Newman and a two-time Gold Glove winner behind the plate in Roberto Perez to replace another Gold Glover in Jacob Stallings. But being among the best at one of the sport's three facets isn't nothing, as this outcome dynamically illustrated.

"That was phenomenal, what happened behind me out there today. Just phenomenal," Zach Thompson, the day's starter, would tell me. "I can’t tell you what that feeling's like for a pitcher, to have plays like that being made. You just can't wait to get the ball back."

I asked Derek Shelton if this defense, after what he's seen through this 2-3 start and all of spring training, might rival the 2021 defense.

"Yeah," he replied. "We have some players that are different, especially in the outfield. We're asking some guys that are traditional infielders to play the outfield. So at times that can be a little bit challenging for us. But yeah, I think we can be as good defensively."

We'll see. Yoshi Tsutsugo's been sound at first base, a surprise given how he showed at all positions upon arrival. No one knows anything about right field at the moment. Whoever's at second will be a downgrade from Adam Frazier, unless Newman slides over when Oneil Cruz comes up. And then there's Cruz himself, whether it's at short or in the outfield, where, by the way, he's been sharp in the early going at Class AAA Indianapolis:

Regardless, even some mythical all-Maz defense would need to be accompanied by hitting and pitching, and that requires a leap and a half to find some faith. Both were there on this day, between Gamel's blast, Newman's two-run triple, Hayes' 4 for 4, and the combination of Thompson, Dillon Peters and Wil Crowe tag-teaming to cut down the Cubs. But there are many, many miles to go on both fronts.

Whatever. I'll take the gems for now, partially for the entertainment, partially because, at least in theory, they can lay a fundamental -- and fun -- foundation into the future.

JOE SARGENT / GETTY

Jake Marisnick, Bryan Reynolds and Ben Gamel celebrate the Pirates' victory in the PNC Park outfield Wednesday.

• Thompson's first appearance with the Pirates since being acquired from the Marlins as part of the Stallings trade was encouraging -- two runs, five hits, three strikeouts, a walk -- over four-plus innings before he was knocked out by a Nico Hoerner liner off his right shoulder blade in the fifth. He tried to stretch it out when athletic trainers visited at the mound, but he was removed within a minute.

"I'll be fine," he told me.

Yeah, but still ...

... that had to sting.

"Caught him flush," as Shelton would say.

From the pitching perspective, a fastball that peaked early at 94.9 mph was Thompson's go-to throughout, though he'd also draw some awkward swings with his sinker. He's a really big dude -- 6-7, 250 -- and he throws it heavy, with his fastball here peaking at 94.9 mph. With only 79 big-league innings and a 1.23 WHIP to his name, there's promise.

"Exactly what we thought," Shelton spoke of Thompson. "He commanded the ball, used the two-seamer, put the ball on the ground ... overall really solid first outing."

• No one on the mound impressed more than Wil Crowe, whose scoreless three innings -- one hit, four strikeouts, a walk -- finished off this game for what really ought to be called an Elroy Face save.

Crowe's visibly soaking up being converted to relief, both from the pace and productivity standpoints. He works faster, he throws harder, he uses his changeup more to keep batters off-balance, and he's getting outs.

He'd told me in St. Louis last week he needed to get his slider in order, and that still applied here -- he tried only two, and both hung -- but that should only add to the upbeat feeling.

"Today, I felt like I had everything available," he'd tell me after this one. "That's how I've been going and how I'm gonna keep going about it."

• Mr. Face is still kicking at age 94, by the way. And a compelling argument can be made that he should be in Cooperstown, if only for how a 5-8 forkballer was able to tower above those 1960 Yankees. Bill Mazeroski himself will attest that the Pirates don't have a prayer without him.

• Newman's 4 for 19 so far, but that triple banged way up off the '21' on the Clemente Wall in the third to put the Pirates up, 5-1: 

Went with the pitch.

• Three separate references to the '60 Pirates has to be a personal column record.

• All of the Pirates were focused on attacking Kyle Hendricks on his preferred outer corner, which is why he went poof after giving up all six of their runs within his 3 2/3 innings.

"We had a really good plan," Gamel said.

Hendricks had a different explanation for Gamel's home run, saying, "It was down, at least, but it’s working into him. It wasn’t starting on the outside part of the plate and fading off, so that’s right into his barrel, right into his bat path.”

I prefer Gamel's.

• Forty seconds with Newman on his favorite topic:

That left side of the infield hasn't been this strong since Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson were over there.

• JT Brubaker, the starter in Thursday night's series opener here with the Nationals, isn't exactly reeling from his three-inning bummer a week ago in St. Louis. He told me looked at video, found a couple flaws in slider command, but otherwise, "My stuff was there. I'm feeling good about where I am."

It'd help if he flips the script right away. He's kind of important.

• I'll be back on the hockey beat Thursday night across the river. As ever, thanks for reading my baseball stuff.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: OF Anthony Alford (hand), LHP Sam Howard (back), RHP Duane Underwood (hamstring), RHP Max Kranick (forearm), RHP Luis Oviedo (ankle)

• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
2. Brian Reynolds, CF
3. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
4. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
5. Ben Gamel, LF
6. Kevin Newman, SS
7. Josh VanMeter, 2B
8. Andrew Knapp, C
9. Hoy Park, RF

And for David Ross' Cubs:

1. Rafael Ortega, DH
2. Frank Schwindel, 1B
3. Willson Contreras, C
4. Ian Happ, LF
5. Seiya Suzuki, RF
6. Jason Heyward, CF
7. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
8. Jonathan Villar, 2B
9. Nico Hoerner, SS

THE SCHEDULE

Here come four with Josh Bell and the Nationals, beginning Thursday at 6:35 p.m. with Brubaker facing righty Joan Adon. Alex Stumpf will have that.

THE CONTENT

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