MILWAUKEE -- There have been some flabbergasting plays in recent Pirates history. Friday night, we witnessed yet another one.
But before I set the scene for you, think less of the "fourth-out" rule and more of a Will Craig situation. You know, those plays where you're left asking, "What the heck did I just watch? Did that actually just happen?!"
Trailing 4-2 in the ninth inning, the Pirates -- for the second time in less than a week -- put serious pressure on Brewers All-Star closer Josh Hader. Diego Castillo walked to lead off the inning. Then after Jack Suwinski struck out looking, Kevin Newman hit a blooper that landed in shallow right field for a single that put runners on the corners for Oneil Cruz.
After Hader got the better of the Cruz with a strikeout, Daniel Vogelbach stepped up to the plate representing the go-ahead run with two outs. On a 2-2 count, Vogelbach came through with a critical RBI single to make it 4-3 and keep the line moving.
That is, until this happened:
The first reaction to a play like that echoes the sentiment above.
"What was that?!"
And yes, it took time for me to realize it too, but Newman didn't blow through a stop sign. He was sent home by third base coach Mike Rabelo.
It's a mistake. Pure and simple. No two ways around it. No fluff. It's a mistake.
Talking with Derek Shelton after the game, he helped explain what both he and Rabelo saw on the play.
"As the ball came out of Andrew McCutchen’s hand, it was high," Shelton said. "Just an assumption, not having talked to him, but it was the same view and I think he thought he threw it over (Willy Adames') head and the ball was going to get to the middle of the infield and hold there.
"... But it just came down."
Yep. Right into Adames' glove. He had enough time to catch it, realize Newman was actually running home and throw any kind of ball in the vicinity of Victor Caratini. There was more than enough time to commit an error and still get Newman out.
"I figured maybe they kicked it or something happened out there," Newman explained after the game. "My back is to the play so I’m kind of just going off what I see."
Adames was just as surprised as anyone else to see Newman breaking for the plate.
Willy Adames was shocked to see Kevin Newman trying to score on Daniel Vogelbach’s ninth-inning single: pic.twitter.com/gOd7fh25dK
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) July 9, 2022
"It really caught me off guard," Adames said. "Obviously, I thought he was not going. When I turned around and I saw him running, I just threw the ball. What's going on?! Where's he going?! Especially with the top of the lineup coming up. I don't know what the thought process was behind that play."
From Shelton's perspective, he had no issue with Rabelo being aggressive, especially if he potentially saw a bad throw to the cutoff man. After all, it is awfully difficult to string hits together off a closer of Hader's caliber.
"Mike’s done a nice job over there at third and he’s made good decisions all year long," Shelton said. "He got aggressive because of where he saw the throw coming out of his hand but it ended up coming down and Willy made a good throw to the plate."
The problem here is a play like this isn't an anomaly. If it was, it's a bit more forgivable. Take your lumps and move on.
But these types of plays seem to happen too often -- far too often for a Major League Baseball club. And, in addition to the Will Craig play, why is it that we have not one but two of these screenshots from less than a year apart?
Colin Moran thrown out at home plate against the Marlins on September 17, 2021.
Kevin Newman thrown out at home on July 8, 2022.
The Pirates have a promising farm system, and that pipeline will continue to produce exciting talent over the next few years. But until plays like these become an anomaly, it'll be difficult for anybody to take the Pirates seriously.
• Friday was Newman's first game with the Pirates after recovering from separate groin and hamstring injuries. Overall, it wasn't a bad night for him, considering he played second base instead of shortstop -- his most-played position in the big leagues.
In addition to his ninth-inning single, Newman made a couple of nice defensive plays, including a couple of tag plays at second base. One was on Andrew McCutchen trying to steal his second base of the game and the other kept Keston Hiura from stretching a single into a double. However, he also booted a ball that was ruled a base hit, but was nevertheless a play that could have been made.
All things considered, Newman is just happy to be back and playing again. And after running first to almost home, Newman had the chance to really test out that leg.
"That’s what I was saying to the trainers," Newman said. "First-to-home and I’m good, so that’s a good sign."
• Diego Castillo continues to hit some balls out that you might not initially think possible.
Look at where this 0-2 breaking ball is at the point of impact and try to understand how he smacked that ball 395 feet:
It turns out, Castillo was sitting on the breaking ball.
"I was waiting for it," Castillo said. "His fastball is really good. It’s sinking real well. I was saying to myself, 'I’m not going to hit that fastball because I’m not gonna get the result that I want.' I was looking for that curveball. He threw it. I put a good swing on it."
Note: Castillo said curveball, but MLB's Gamecast said it was a slider.
• Bryan Reynolds continues to hit the ball well. He had three of the Pirates' six hits in this game. He needs some help from the rest of the lineup. Even with Castillo hitting a homer, I still felt like it was Reynolds then everyone else in this one.
• JT Brubaker had another start that showed some promise, but lacked considerable command to make it a complete performance.
Brubaker ended up walking five Brewers in five innings of work, surrendering five hits while striking out six. He ended up allowing three earned runs, forced to attack hitters with his offspeed pitches.
"It was just the lack of the fastball command today. It was all over the place," Brubaker said. "Arm, body felt really good. Just struggling to get the fastball down in the zone. It makes it hard to pitch when you don’t have fastball command."
Brubaker ended up giving up some hits on two-strike counts because of having to rely too much on his breaking balls. He ended up pitching on two extra days of rest, and Shelton believed that he was throwing a bit harder than normal because of it, which might have impacted the shape of some of his pitches.
"Everything felt like it was coming out really well," Brubaker said. "Some sliders that didn’t get as much depth as usual. Curveball felt really good today. In my opinion, that was my best pitch today. The four-seam was coming out really well. I just didn’t really have the command of it."
• Reinforcing what Alex Stumpf reported from Cincinnati, Shelton confirmed that Roansy Contreras will remain with the big-league club after being optioned to Class AAA Indianapolis after his start in the first game of Thursday's doubleheader against the Reds. Shelton told us prior to Friday's game that Contreras' shutdown is all about preserving his long-term health.
"I think the most important thing -- and we were very clear with Ro on this -- is he's really important to us and we really like him. So we have to be mindful of that," Shelton said.
"Our plans would be for him to end the year pitching for us in the big leagues, and we can't do that over the course of the time with the number of innings. To build in a little break, keep him with us, keep him continuing to work. And then ramp back up and then expect him to be in our rotation at some point moving forward."
I asked Shelton for any clarification on how long the team plans to shut down Contreras, and he said there isn't a set number of days. Contreras won't pitch any games prior to the All-Star break, and the club will ramp him back up once they get back from Los Angeles. Shelton did not give any indication of how long the buildup will be.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 15-day injured list: LHP Dillon Peters (back)
• 60-day injured list: OF Jake Marisnick (thumb) OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery) RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Michael Chavis, 1B
4. Yoshi Tsutsugo, DH
5. Diego Castilllo, RF
6. Jack Suwinski, LF
7. Kevin Newman, 2B
8. Oneil Cruz, SS
9. Jason Delay, C
And for Craig Counsell's Brewers:
1. Christian Yelich, LF
2. Willy Adames, SS
3. Rowdy Tellez, 1B
4. Andrew McCutchen, CF
5. Kolten Wong, 2B
6. Luis Urías, 3B
7. Omar Narváez, C
8. Keston Hiura, DH
9. Jace Peterson, RF
THE SCHEDULE
Same two teams tomorrow for a late-afternoon contest, starting at 4:10 p.m. Eastern. Zach Thompson (3-6, 4.42) and Brandon Woodruff (7-3, 3.95) are scheduled to face off. I'll have you covered from American Family Field once again.
THE CONTENT
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