It could go down as one of the finest defensive plays by the Pirates this season.
Nobody wanted to take credit for it.
Sandwiched between a couple of rallies in the bottom of the sixth and seventh that would produce all of the Pirates' runs was a relay from left fielder Ben Gamel to shortstop Diego Castillo to catcher Roberto Pérez to get Josh Bell at the plate on a Maikel Franco double:
WHAT A PLAY. WHAT A RELAY. pic.twitter.com/fg7D7GOKyj
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 17, 2022
A run stayed off the board and momentum remained with the club in PNC Park's third base dugout, and the Pirates would go on to beat the Nationals, 5-3, on Sunday.
"Just one of those plays that was do or die," Pérez was telling me. "I think that was the play that changed the whole game."
The Nationals would go on to challenge the play, to no avail.
"I saw the tag," Hembree, who was backing up home plate, said. "I felt comfortable leaving it with the review."
When talking to the three players involved in the play, all three immediately credited the others.
Gamel's relay to Castillo?
"He threw a perfect ball to me," Castillo told me.
"If Gamel didn't get a good relay to Diego, that would have been a different story," Pérez said.
"I did not do a whole lot there," Gamel said. "Just handed it off to the guy with the good arm."
That guy with the good arm delivered a strike to Pérez from the outfield grass:
"That was a hell of a throw," Shelton said.
"He put it right on the money," Gamel said.
And at the plate?
"Bebo [Pérez] was there to slap the tag on," Gamel said.
"It was good," Castillo said. "So, so good. He's giving all he has back there."
Pérez would explain after that they made the play "as a team," so it should be credited as such. Still, Bell is in to score if just one person doesn't nail their assignment.
If there was anyone more fired up that Pérez after home plate umpire Ed Hickox's out call, it was Castillo, a good 120 feet away on the outfield grass. Filling in for the banged up Kevin Newman at shortstop, Castillo made his major-league debut at his original position.
After the game, Castillo said it felt great to be back at his natural spot, but the end result of the play was what was more special.
"We took advantage of that," Castillo said. "We make the out at home plate, and the next inning, we got a man on base and just start rolling and rolling."
The Pirates would go on to score three in the bottom of the seventh before Hembree and David Bednar closed it, giving the Pirates the four-game series win and a 5-4 record on the young season.
And when you win by making a play like that?
"That's baseball right there," Casillo said.
JUSTIN BERL / GETTY
The Pirates line up after the win.
• All of the Pirates' wins this year have been of the come from behind variety, this time erasing an early 3-0 deficit.
"I don’t care how we win, but I do appreciate the fight," Shelton said.
After José Quintana allowed back-to-back RBI hits to Riley Adams and Victor Robles -- both of which were their first hits of the season -- he was able to settle in to go 4+ frames.
Wil Crowe was the bridge to the back of the bullpen, getting eight outs without allowing a run, though it was his runner on first that was erased on the relay.
"We’ve talked about how we’re going to deploy our bullpen differently," Shelton said. "I think he’s kind of the poster child for how good it’s been through the first nine games."
Playing without Bryan Reynolds or Ke'Bryan Hayes in their starting lineup -- both of whom were getting a rest day, Shelton said -- Castillo got the Pirates on the board in the bottom of the sixth by beating the relay on what could have been an inning-ending double-play. Instead, he got on and Gamel followed with an RBI knock to pull the team to within one.
In the seventh, Nationals' right-hander Steve Cishek intentionally walked Daniel Vogebach to load the bases before an apparent cross up allowed the tying run to score. Michael Chavis followed shortly after with the go-ahead hit, and Yoshi Tsutsugo followed with a run scoring out to add some insurance.
"I was like, 'Fine, quicker to get to me. That's fine with me,' " Chavis joked about the Nationals pitching around Vogelbach to get to him.
• Chavis got the start for Hayes at third base, and made an extremely Hayes-like play early on:
"I was thinking that on that dive!" Chavis responded when I compared the play to Hayes' glove work. "It kept pulling away and everything like that. I caught that, and I was like, 'Dang, people might think I'm Key over here.' "
That defense paired well with another multi-hit game for Chavis, who now hitting .500 with a 1.431 OPS over his first six games of the season.
That hot start comes after a disappointing spring, Chavis says the changes he's made since then are more with his approach than anything physical.
"A lot of it was not trying to do too much, truly," he said. "Subconsciously, it's so easy for you to fall into that trap of trying to hit a home run or trying to destroy the ball every single time. I'm really just trying to catch it on the barrel right now, keep things simple, and that's really what's showing up."
• Before the game, Bednar went into Shelton's office and asked who did he have to talk to to throw that day?
"I was like, 'I guess that's me,' " Shelton said.
After going 1 2/3 innings and throwing 24 pitches Saturday night, Bednar was able to close out the ninth for his first save of the season.
"I was ready to go," Bednar said. "Wanted to help the team win."
• Five come-from-behind wins has to mean something, right? It at least does in that clubhouse.
"No one really gave us a puncher's chance, and we're just going out there, having fun and playing baseball," Gamel said.
• Before the game, Ben Cherington said on his radio show on 93.7 The Fan that Newman (groin) ran and did defensive work before the game Sunday. The Pirates are optimistic that he will start Monday.
And for anyone who saw that Oneil Cruz was not in Class AAA Indianapolis' lineup Saturday, that was coincidental.
Pérez, who had a quad contusion, also told me after the game that he is fine. He and the club were just being cautious by having him sit out Saturday after being pulled in the second inning Friday.
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). Oviedo's rehab has been transferred to Class AA Altoona.
• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Jake Marisnick, CF
2. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
3. Michael Chavis, 3B
4. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
5. Diego Castillo, SS
6. Ben Gamel, LF
7. Roberto Pérez, C
8. Cole Tucker, RF
9. Josh VanMeter, 2B
And for Davey Martinez's Nationals:
1. César Hernández, 2B
2. Juan Soto, RF
3. Nelson Cruz, DH
4. Josh Bell, 1B
5. Maikel Franco, 3B
6. Lane Thomas, LF
7. Alcides Escobar, SS
8. Riley Adams, C
9. Victor Robles, CF
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will kick off a seven-game road trip with a three-game series in Milwaukee starting Monday. Zach Thompson (0-0, 4.50) is good to go after getting hit by a comebacker in his first start. He will face Eric Lauer (0-0, 6.23), with first pitch coming at 7:40 p.m. Eastern. DK is, of course, going to take that series.
THE CONTENT
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