The disparity in payroll alone made it seem like it would be the Dodgers who would march into Pittsburgh and take control. Instead, it was the Pirates who walked away with a 5-1 victory Monday night at PNC Park.
That disparity was even more magnified after the Pirates' performance in Cincinnati, where they lost two of three to the lowly Reds who boast the worst record in baseball. So of course, it should be no surprise that the Pirates took down the mighty Dodgers using players whose salaries wouldn't cause a ripple in the payroll of the National League team from Los Angeles.
To do so it took six shutout innings from Jose Quintana who makes a paltry $2 million for the Pirates this season. He became the first Pirates starting pitcher to win a game this season, although it took 28 games.
"It starts and stops with pitching and we threw the ball really well today all the way through." Derek Shelton said following the game.
Quintana allowed two hits during his outing while striking out five on the night. Those strikeouts were things of beauty as you can see here as he sat down Chris Taylor (twice) and Cody Bellinger (three):
In case you're wondering, the Dodgers have a total of $32 million invested in Taylor and Bellinger while the Pirates have just over $43 million invested in their active roster.
"Q did a hell of a job. He pitched really well. He executed (against) all right handed lineup that's as good as you'll see in the National League and he did a really nice job," Derek Shelton said following the game.
For Quintana, it marked his first win since 2019 and to get to this point he had to overcome injuries and teams only looking at him as a reliever when he still believed he could be a starting pitcher in this league.
"It's huge. After 2019, 2020 was a hard year for me ... 2021 was the worst in my career," Quintana said. "I've never never quit ... I'm gonna keep working hard and I know this day was coming one day so I'm really happy to get a win against a team like that and it's good to just keep rolling in all the starters get confidence."
To get back in the win column Quintana focused on one pitch, one batter at a time much like he attacked the adversity he's faced in his career. On Monday night, he was through five innings but had an elevated pitch count and was on the third time through the order. Instead of going to the bullpen, Shelton went with his starter to get the job done.
"I'm really glad the opportunity Shelty gave me to be back in the sixth inning and keep competing, one batter at a time," Quintana said.
Quintana went out, slammed the door and retired the side in order in convincing fashion sitting Taylor and Bellinger down on strikes and getting Hanser Alberto to ground out to Ke'Bryan Hayes.
"It was a well-played baseball game," Shelton said.
• The outfield is typically a graveyard where baseballs are supposed to go to die. Those in the outfield do everything in their power to not let balls drop and limit the damage an opposing team can do on fly balls. In the Pirates outfield, the outfielders often do just that. Sometimes it's spectacular like this diving grab by Ben Gamel in the first inning:
Others, it's jaw dropping like this by Jake Marisnick in the fourth inning:
How exactly does one make that sort of play?
"It's fairly simple: Ball goes up, go catch it," Marisnick said rather succinctly.
OK. But really, is there more to it?
"You're gauging as you're running and kind of watching the spin and what the ball is doing and whether you have a chance to catch it or whether you're going to take a deeper route and cut it off," Marisnick said.
The Pirates are getting defensive production from each of the outfielders they trot out there and each day it seems like they are making playing the outfield look easy. It's not quite the 'Dream Outfield' from a few years ago of Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco, but these guys continue to handle their own as good if not better than the aforementioned did.
"They've made some unbelievable plays already and we're only a month into the season. It's great whenever you have guys back there busting their butt each and everyday making plays like that," Ke'Bryan Hayes said. "I feel like it helps your momentum on offense whenever guys make great plays to get us out of big innings."
"It's fun. When you limit the amount of opportunities the other team gets, you typically have a lot of success," Marisnick said. "Seeing these guys go get it's been a lot of fun."
• Hayes continued his hot streak at the plate notching a double and two singles for his second three-hit game in a row. Over the course of the last three days, Hayes has seen his average go from .301 to .333.
"In Cincinnati I felt like I was falling behind in the count a lot and today coming in against Urias we put a lot of emphasis collectively on as a group being aggressive those first two pitches early in the count," Hayes said.
Hayes' seventh inning single set the stage for Michael Chavis' sac-fly to bring home the third run of the game. Hayes stole second with Bryan Reynolds at the plate then took third on catcher Austin Barnes' throwing error.
That single also marked the first Hayes had been to the plate with less than two outs since leading off the game in the first inning. It's the downfall of leading off, but when the guys in front of Hayes are able to turn the order over and get him and Reynolds to the plate in favorable situations, it usually works out well.
• Heading into the seventh the Pirates had mustered only one run. Then Michael Perez happened. Perez deposited this Urias pitch into the visitor's bullpen:
"He's done a nice job. Not only that, I think he's caught very well, on the first two games. And just really consistent at bats," Shelton said.
That home run knocked Urias out of the game and provided what would eventually be the winning run.
In the top of the eighth, it was Suwinski who found himself launching a two-run home run into the same bullpen. It was the first home run of his young career.
"You think about that for a long time and it still is mind blowing once it happens," Suwinski said.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: SS Kevin Newman (groin), RHP Duane Underwood (hamstring), C Roberto Perez (hamstring)
• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, DH
3. Michael Chavis, 2B
4. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
5. Diego Castillo, SS
6. Ben Gamel, LF
7. Jack Suwinski, RF
8. Jake Marisnick, CF
9. Michael Perez, C
And for Dave Roberts' Dodgers:
1. Mookie Betts, RF
2. Freddie Freeman, 1B
3. Trea Turner, SS
4. Justin Turner, DH
5. Chris Taylor, LF
6. Cody Bellinger, CF
7. Hanser Alberto, 3B
8. Austin Barnes, C
9. Gavin Lux, 2B
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates send Bryse Wilson to the bump for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch Tuesday against the Dodgers' Tony Gonsolin.
THE CONTENT
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