Bae is racking up the highlight catches ... and presents from his pitchers

ST. LOUIS -- Usually when a young player starts to learn the outfield, there is some hesitation to get too close to the wall. It may be generally easier to teach an infielder that outfield than the reverse, but the prospect of taking a hit from a stationary object is enough to keep plenty of young players on the alert.

"The wall’s not the easiest thing to play," left fielder Connor Joe said. "You know it’s there. There’s padding, but it still hurts."

Ji Hwan Bae has not had that issue at all playing center field, even if this terrific catch admittedly hurt "a little" because he jumped into that Busch Stadium wall at nearly top speed:

That catch with two on and two out in the fourth inning Thursday retired Tyler O'Neill, got Vince Velasquez out of his worst jam of the night and preserved the shutout in the Pirates' 5-0 win over the Cardinals.

We saw Bae rob an extra-base hit against the Green Monster earlier this month when the Pirates took on the Red Sox at Fenway Park, so he already has a solid case for perhaps the two best defensive plays by the team to this point. Catches that he got to by relying on instinct rather than self-preservation.

"Everything goes really quick in the games, so my initial thought was just to catch the ball," Bae said via interpreter Daniel Park.

Bae hit the wall and outfield clay fairly hard and needed some time to catch his breath before he walked back into the dugout with Joe, who had to first play backup in case Bae couldn't hang onto the ball.

"Once I saw he was alright — a little shaken up but everyone’s a little shaken up when they hit the wall — really happy and to see him come up with a big smile," Joe said. "It’s awesome."

"I don’t think he’s scared," Derek Shelton said. "We talked the other day [in Boston] about liking the lights, there’s not much that really fazes him."

Oh yeah, the lights. Those were squarely on him Tuesday night when he hit a walk-off homer to beat the defending World Series champion Astros. Or in St. Louis again Thursday night, where one inning after making his catch at the wall, Bae came in on a ball for a diving grab:

Sure, Bae didn't pick that one immediately off the bat, but that closing speed and willingness to put the body on the line ended up being enough for him to make the grab.

"I think fearless is the biggest thing," Joe said. "He’s having fun. He’s playing with energy. He’s doing his thing, which is so fun to see."

Going back to that catch against the Red Sox, Colin Holderman thanked Bae for the catch by getting him coffee. It was a small gesture for a highlight reel play.

"I'm probably going to buy him some lunch or something," Velasquez said. "Dinner maybe. Take him out, buy him a bottle or something."

"He has to buy the more expensive one because [I did it] twice," Bae joked. 

Hmmm, this could end up being quite the windfall if Bae keeps making catches at this rate. Free coffee, meals, booze... just how far can this go?

"You know how we started the sword ceremony? I think we should start one with defense," Bae said, mimicking Dauri Moreta's money fingers celebration. "If we catch a ball we should do something else."

• Watching Velasquez deal Thursday, I couldn't help but go back to my offseason conversation with Oscar Marin and remember how excited he was about his new pitcher.

This was his first regular season start where he showed why his pitching coach was gassing him up.

Velasquez allowed just three hits and two walks over his six shutout innings, striking out a half-dozen along the way. The four-seamer was a major part of that, not just because he got 10 whiffs with it, but because he was able to effectively have it set up his secondary stuff. Once his slider and changeup started working, he was able to turn to the fastball again late.

"Once I establish that, I don't want to say it's game over, but I would say it's more in favor of [me]," Velasquez said about using that fastball. "My fastball does play at the top of the zone. Guys tend to not lay off of it. Especially the secondary stuff is a factor. It's a fun game to play. I think that's one of the things I emphasized over the offseason, is just how well can I control my secondary stuff to let my fastball do what it needs to do. This is a prime example."

The first couple starts didn't exactly go Velasquez's way, most notably his last one against the White Sox where he suffered a minor ankle injury that impacted his delivery. With that ankle healed, he was able to stick to his original game plan and get that first win as a Pirate.

"I would say a lot of weight's off," Velasquez said.

• Jordan Montgomery kept the Pirates off the board and mostly off-balance for most of the game, but was finally whittled away on that dreaded third time through the order, chasing him after 6 1/3 innings and two earned runs on an Andrew McCutchen run scored and sacrifice fly.

"We stayed with how approach, which was really important," Shelton said. "We just continued to battle and nick away at it, then we were able to extend it."

In the eighth, Joe and Rodolfo Castro both connected for their first home runs of the season on back-to-back swings. After a very tough start to the season, Castro has become more selective at the plate and is drawing his walks, raising his season on-base percentage to .433 after going 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk. He has pop to go with that, and it showed up Thursday.

"Rudy’s at-bats are becoming more consistent, becoming more professional, to be able to get one makes you smile a little bit," Shelton said. "Especially for a young kid."

• Some injury news to go through: Carlos Santana had a collision at home with catcher Willson Contreras in the sixth inning that did smart a bit, but he assured afterwards that he was feeling fine. He was pinch-hit for in the ninth inning after he batted in the seventh.

Austin Hedges (concussion) is expected to be activated at some point this road trip.

And on Wednesday, JT Brubaker underwent elbow surgery, keeping him out of major-league action for 14-16 months. It was a move that seemed almost inevitable after the right-hander went for a second opinion Tuesday, if not even sooner than that.

"Any time you have an injury, you feel for the human being first," Shelton said. "I think when he went down there, he had a pretty good idea that that’s what it was going to be. But you’re never fully prepared for it. I texted with him a little bit yesterday after he got out. He seemed like he was in pretty good spirits. Now it’s just dominating the rehab."

• Factoid of the game: McCutchen doubled in the sixth inning, giving him 296 doubles in his Pirates career. That's eighth on the franchise's all-time leaderboard, passing Bill Mazeroski (295) and putting him one behind seventh place (Dave Parker, 297).

• The last time the Pirates shutout and beat the Cardinals at Busch Stadium by at least five runs? April  28, 2013. (Courtesy of OptaSTATS).

THE ESSENTIALS

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

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 7-day concussion list: C Austin Hedges

• 15-day injured list: RHP Robert Stephenson (elbow)

• 60-day injured list: RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Andrew McCutchen, RF
3. Carlos Santana, DH
4. Ji-Man Choi, 1B
5. Connor Joe, LF
6. Rodolfo Castro, SS
7. Mark Mathias, 2B
8. Ji Hwan Bae, CF
9. Jason Delay, C

And for Oliver Marmol's Cardinals:

1. Brendan Donovan, 2B
2. Alec Burleson, LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Nolaln Arenado, 3B
5. Wilson Contreras, C
6. Nolan Gorman, DH
7. Tyler O'Neill, CF
8. Jordan Walker, RF
9. Tommy Edman, SS

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates will turn to Johan Oviedo (1-0, 3.18) to try to make it two in a row Friday. Jake Woodford (0-2, 9.00) will go for the Cardinals. First pitch is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. Eastern.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE CONTENT

Visit our team page for everything.