CHICAGO -- Austin Hedges' target was high, but Luis Ortiz left the fastball down.
The pitch location may have still been a colder damage zone for Ian Happ, but he was able to turn on Ortiz's 97 mph belt-high offering for a quick first inning three-run homer:
"I just made a mistake with that pitch," Ortiz said via interpreter Stephen Morales. "I paid the price."
Ortiz would settle down from there, allowing just one more run before being pulled in the sixth in the Pirates' 11-3 loss to the Cubs Tuesday at Wrigley Field. And even if things got better, Ortiz never seemed to settle into a groove on a rainy night on the north side of Chicago.
The Pirates' top pitching prospect, per Baseball America's rankings, is now just one major-league inning away from losing his rookie eligibility and prospect status. While he is hardly embarrassing himself in the majors, he's posted pretty pedestrian numbers thus far. In 33 major-league innings this year, he's recorded a 4.64 ERA with 20 strikeouts and 17 walks. He's raw, and it seems reasonable to assume he would have spent more time in the minors this year had the Pirates' rotation not been so hit hard with injuries. In a perfect world, he may still be with Class AAA Indianapolis.
When assessing why he's been shaky, it has to start with the fastball. It's a pitch that consistently sits in the upper-90s, but it hasn't missed bats in the majors. Ortiz struck out four in his 5 1/3 innings Tuesday, all of them with his slider. Meanwhile, Ortiz entered with a 5.4% whiff rate with his four-seamer and just two strikeouts on the year with it. He hasn't gotten a single whiff with his sinker yet, either. The Cubs swung at 14 Ortiz fastballs Tuesday, and made contact with every one.
Looking at Ortiz's pitching heatmaps, it appears that he's not locating at the top of the zone as well on his glove side compared to his hand side. Happ's home run would be an example of that.
BASEBALL SAVANT
Ortiz said there is no difference with how he uses the fastball depending on which half he's throwing to, but the hits he's allowed on that pitch have generally trended towards the middle and more to his glove side. He just isn't missing bats in those areas.
"He's just got to be consistent with it," Derek Shelton said. "We've got to make sure he's able to execute on both sides."
Ortiz has the stuff to be a big-time strikeout pitcher, but location and execution are key as well. Ortiz threw more sliders than fastballs Tuesday, a rarity for him. It could be a sign of things to come or a way to get more strikeouts.
But he's going to need the fastball to get those punchouts, too. Fortunately for him, he has some runway in the majors to start to figure out things.
"I know I’m going to get some innings because those guys are not able to pitch right now," Ortiz said. "Just execute and continue to work hard, put my team in a good spot."
• Not to be lost in a day where the top pitching prospect was iffy and the middle relievers allowed seven earned runs, but Jack Suwinski had himself a homecoming. The Chicago native grew up a White Sox (and Paul Konerko) fan, but two home run and two walk performances could make Wrigley his preferred Chicago spot.
After putting the Pirates on the board in the first, Suwinski tied the game at three in the top of the sixth with a pulled shot on a hanging Jameson Taillon curveball that just stayed within the foul pole in right field:
That's now four multi-home run games for Suwinski this season and 15 long balls on the year.
"We see him continue to get better," Shelton said. "Those are steps that he made last year defensively. This year, he's making them offensively."
What's makes that power more impressive is Suwinski isn't just sitting on fastballs. Sure, his first homer of the night may have been on a four-seamer, but six of his homers have been against offspeed or breaking pitches, including three against the curveball. That's a sign of a young hitter becoming a more complete hitter.
What's helped Suwinski the most for his solid first half of the season is he has learned more about himself. He came into spring training with some mechanics changes that needed to continue to be developed as the year progressed. Through that experimentation and growth, Suwinski has become one of the game's top hitting outfielders, ranking fifth among all outfielders with an .924 OPS.
"I’d say just staying pretty consistent with the routine and with the approach and with the mental preparation as well is a big part of it as much as the physical," Suwinski said. "I want o be ready mentally because that’s a big part of the battle going up there. The guys over here have been helping me. [Coordinator of mental conditioning] Andy Bass has been helping me a lot. That’s been a big part of it."
• One of the things the Pirates did particularly well in April but not so in May was base running and stealing extra bases. June started on the right foot, with the Pirates being successful on 10 of their first 11 steals this month.
"In May, we may have missed a couple hit-and-runs, and we ran into outs," Shelton said pregame. "We got picked off. There was a couple inopportune. In May we had some glitches that we needed to clean up wholly, and it wasn’t just in our running game. It was on a full circle... I think we have cleaned those up in June."
That applies even more to Ji Hwan Bae. The utilityman has 80-grade speed and nobody in the game goes from home to first base quicker than him, but he also leads baseball in caught stealings. He was nabbed trying to steal second in the top of the fourth, the seventh time he has been caught this year.
Nobody is going to be perfect with stolen base attempts, and Shelton was complimentary pregame about Bae's decision-making on the basepaths of late.
"Sometimes when young players come to the big leagues and they run like he does, they think they can just out-run the ball," Shelton said. "There have been a lot of conversations between him and [first base coach] Tarrik [Brock] of like, ‘OK, these are the right situations. This is why we’re running. This is why we’re not running.’ As with anything we do, it’s just a learning experience of how to play the game. I think we’ve seen Ji do that over the last month."
This didn't seem like a case of good decision making, though. Bae's caught stealing ended the top of the fourth, meaning No. 9 hitter Austin Hedges led off the inning rather than the top of the order. If Bae had been successful on the steal, it would still mean Hedges would need to come through with a hit to bring home the run, and he was hitting just .173 at that time. He isn't the guy you risk those extra outs on the base paths for. If missed hit-and-runs were a problem, like Shelton said, do you want to rely on Hedges making contact to protect the base runner? Bae has traditionally batted towards the bottom of the order, which limits the number of times he's in a great running situation, but this also isn't the first time he's been thrown out with Hedges left at the alter. Hedges is a great defender and game caller, but extending his at-bats is generally not doing anyone favors.
Bae had a couple conversations with coaches in the locker room postgame. They seemed positive. He can be a great base stealer, but if he's going to make outs like that on the bases, that aggressiveness could do more harm than good.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 15-day injured list: RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)
• 60-day injured list: 1B Ji-Man Choi (Achilles), RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Tucupita Marcano, SS
2. Bryan Reynolds, DH
3. Jack Suwinski, CF
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Connor Joe, LF
6. Josh Palacios, RF
7. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
8. Ji Hwan Bae, 2B
9. Austin Hedges, C
And for David Ross' Cubs:
1. Mike Tauchman, CF
2. Nico Hoerner, 2B
3. Seiya Suzuki, RF
4. Ian Happ, LF
5. Dansby Swanson, SS
6. Matt Mervis, 1B
7. Miles Mastrobuoni, DH
8. Nick Madrigal, 3B
9. Tucker Barnhart, C
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will take on the Cubs under the Wrigley lights again Wednesday, with first pitch set for 8:05 p.m. Eastern. Osvaldo Bido will have his contract selected and make his first major-league start. I'll have you covered.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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