A 41-minute rain delay, pushing back first pitch when there was not any actual rain, was an apt way to start what would be one of the more peculiar nights at PNC Park this year.
It certainly stayed weird from there. Milwaukee ace Corbin Burnes took a perfect game into the sixth inning. The Brewers built a double-digit lead. They would go on to almost blow a double-digit lead.
And the Pirates' 11-8 loss to the Brewers Saturday was punctuated by, what else, that rain they could have avoided had they started on time.
It could have been a game of two starters. Johan Oviedo was one of the Pirates' hottest hands, rattling off four quality starts in his five June outings, but stumbled out of the gate, resulting in him allowing eight runs over 5+ innings.
"I don’t know what was the problem, to be honest," Oviedo said. "I just gotta be better."
In his last start against the Marlins, Oviedo turned in one of his best outings as a big-leaguer by working down in the zone with his slider and sinker. He consistently missed up with both pitches Saturday:
And a breaking ball left up to someone like Christian Yelich can end up going 422 feet:
"He battled being in the zone, a lot of deep counts," Shelton said. "We were hoping to get him through the sixth there. Just the command of the fastball was not very good.”
Oviedo was able to go a few more innings before handing the ball over in the sixth, at which point the Pirates were down 10-0 and failed to have a runner reach base in the fifth.
Its those type of situations where the team has done its best work of late, though. After back-to-back comeback wins of being down four runs, the Pirates nearly pulled off one of the greatest bounce backs in the franchise's history, scoring six times in the eighth via a Jack Suwinski home run (off of a lefty), a Tucupita Marcano triple and Jared Triolo double. Given the beaten up state of the Brewers' bullpen, it appeared the Pirates had a chance again.
But as the top of the ninth rolled around, so did the rain, causing a 33-minute delay. A delay that could have been avoided if first pitch was on schedule rather than delayed because of an expected system that missed the North Shore.
PNC Park got noticeably quieter and emptier from its announced 35,246 from there, and the Pirates went quietly in the ninth. It raises the question, just how real is momentum in baseball, and could the rain have killed it?
“It’s hard to say because the momentum in baseball is based on pitching," Shelton said. "When you have a crowd that’s this big and you score six runs and they get into it, yeah, there is some momentum. Then Yerry [De Los Santos] goes out and gets the first out really quickly. It stifled it a little bit.”
"You can always say it kind of affected the momentum, but we were still ready to go," Josh Palacios said. "We still were ready to push forward. Everybody sat down and slowed things down, maybe had a little less fans here because people got rained on. Just couldn’t pull it out at the end."
How much is there to take from a game like that? Oviedo fell out of his groove, the team's problems with starting pitching are as prevalent as ever. Battling back and not wearing a double-digit loss has to count for something though, even if it's just a morale victory.
"They continued to battle, so I’m really proud of how they continued to go, regardless of the circumstances,” Shelton said.
LAUREN LEIGH BACHO
Joel Payampshigh fives Victor Caratini after getting the save.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: OF Bryan Reynolds (back), 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (back)
• 15-day injured list: LHP Jose Hernandez (calf), LHP Rob Zastryzny (forearm), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)
• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), 1B Ji-Man Choi (Achilles), RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Josh Palacios, LF
2. Andrew McCutchen, DH
3. Jack Suwinski, CF
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Henry Davis, RF
6. Tucupita Marcano, SS
7. Jared Triolo, 3B
8. Ji Hwan Bae, 2B
9. Jason Delay, C
And for Craig Counsell's Brewers:
1. Christian Yelich, LF
2. Jesse Winker, DH
3. Willy Adames, SS
4. Rowdy Tellez, 1B
5. Victor Caratini, C
6. Brian Anderson, 3B
7. Brice Turang, 2B
8. Blake Perkins, CF
9. Raimel Tapia, RF
THE SCHEDULE
The rubber match is set for 1:35 p.m. Sunday. Rich Hill (7-7, 4.45) will take on Colin Rea (4-4, 4.57) in the Pirates' final home game before the All-Star break. DK will have covered.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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