It's safe to say José Quintana has been the Pirates' most consistent starter in 2022, usually being able to go deeper into games and keep hitters off the plate.
That wasn't the case Tuesday night at PNC Park. The Tigers hit him hard, chasing him in the fourth inning en route to a 5-3 Pirates loss.
That fourth inning was arguably the worst of the year for Quintana, allowing three hits with an exit velocity over 103 mph with only a walk to break them up before being pulled with one out.
"I couldn’t execute my pitches to get out of the jam," Quintana said.
Quintana was dealt a tough hand to start, needing to wait through a two hour and five minute rain delay before delivering the first pitch.
When asked if he thought the rain might have impacted Quintana's performance, Derek Shelton opted to not speculate, but said, "I don't think it helped."
"I’ve been in this situation before," Quintana said. "It’s always tough. As soon as the game starts, I have to be ready to compete. I’m really frustrated when I have a short start. It is what it is. I’m gonna make my adjustment for the next time."
Those adjustments, he later said, was to make sure his low offerings stayed outside. Facing a lineup with seven right-handers, he didn't do that Tuesday:
Perhaps there's nothing more to read into a bad start than that, but Quintana's pitch usage is trending in an interesting direction. Early in the year, he relied on his changeup more than ever, using it to throw off hitter's timing and mask occasional fastball mistakes.
He threw it just 13 times out of his 74 pitches (18%), marking the third straight start where he's thrown it less than 20% of the time:
It wasn't in its best shape Tuesday, with the Tigers going 2-for-3 against it while only whiffing once. One of those hits was a key knock by Daz Cameron in the fourth, keeping a rally going with the bottom-third of the Tigers lineup. Quintana would not make it to the top of the lineup again.
"I missed a spot a couple times," Quintana said. "The changeup was high against Cameron. Usually I throw that in in that situation. Nothing change with my stuff. Just need to take control of that one inning."
Perhaps it is nothing more than a rough performance during a long night, but if Quintana is throwing the changeup less, it would be a move away from what has been successful for him this year.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• There was some good, some bad from Cal Mitchell Tuesday, showing some promise but also those rookie pains.
The good was obvious: A two-run homer in the fourth...
And another run in the second on pure hustle, scoring from first after a two-out pop fly double to right from Yu Chang.
"The rule of thumb is to keep going hard until you see somebody tell you stop," Mitchell said. "I try to practice that every time, and it ended up happening, and I'm glad that I wasn't caught off guard and I was able to score that run."
He also made a bad read on a sinking Tucker Barnhart liner in the eighth, making a late dive after stopping for a brief moment before. The ball would end up getting by him and a run would come home, aided by an offline relay from Chang:
Mitchell acknowledged afterwards that since he didn't have the read the whole way, he should have stayed on his feet and knocked it down instead.
"With young players, there's times where there's going to be development things that we have to talk about," Shelton said. "We'll talk to him about that situation."
"I'm always trying to learn, and you could say I learned to not do that tonight," Mitchell said. "It's just like for any team trying to win ballgames. Usually it boils down to a couple pitches, and that one hurt us."
• The Tigers started southpaw Taik Skubal, but announced shortly before the original first pitch that it would be reliever Wily Peralta instead because of the forecast. Once the game was officially delayed before first pitch, the Tigers went back to Skubal.
Shelton said the team didn't make any changes preparing for Peralta before short notice, so the brief change in plans didn't impact them.
Skubal allowed three runs on six hits over seven innings, striking out nine.
• Speaking of rookie outfielders, Travis Swaggerty finally made his big-league debut after his rush to the park Sunday and the rain delay Tuesday.
Chris Halicke has that story here.
And while we're on the subject of new stories, the baseball staff came together to work out our top 10 Pirates prospects. This will be a recurring feature for us, so check out our first incarnation here.
• Before the game, the Pirates placed lefty Dillon Peters on the 15-day injured list with a lower back strain, retroactive to June 3.
Lefty Aaron Fletcher was recalled to replace him. Before the game, he talked about how he worked on his slider with Class AAA Indianapolis and the pressures of trying to stick in the majors each time he's called up.
"When you get called up, you want to make a good impression to stay up," Fletcher said. "That's how it is. I've got to keep the same mindset. I can't change anything now that I'm up here. I've got to be the same person wherever I go."
• A quick quote from Shelton about how his outfield consisted of three rookies:
"I think you're probably gonna see that a little bit. You're gonna continue to see rookies. We had, what, five on the field tonight? It's where we're at, it’s where we're going. And it's fun."
• Factoid of the game: Mitchell is just the second lefty to homer off of Skubal in 227 MLB innings. The other is Corey Seager.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: OF Ben Gamel (hamstring), RHP Heath Hembree (calf), OF Jake Marisnick (thumb), LHP Dillon Peters (lower back strain), 1B Yoshi Tsutsugo (lumbar muscle strain), Josh VanMeter (finger)
• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery), Kevin Newman (groin), Roberto Pérez (hamstring, out for season)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, DH
3. Jack Suwinski, LF
4. Michael Chavis,1B
5. Diego Castillo, SS
6. Cal Mitchell, RF
7. Yu Chang, 2B
8. Tyler Heineman, C
9. Travis Swaggerty, CF
And for A.J. Hinch's Tigers:
1. Willi Castro, LF
2. Jonathan Schoop, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, DH
4. Javier Báez, SS
5. Austin Meadows, RF
6. Spencer Torkelson, 1B
7. Daz Cameron, CF
8. Tucker Barnhart, C
9. Harold Castro, 3B
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates and Tigers conclude this mini two-game set Wednesday before embarking on an eight-game road trip. Mitch Keller (2-5, 5.77) will take on Alex Faedo (1-2, 3.09) with first pitch coming at 12:35 p.m. DK will have you covered.
THE CONTENT
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