SAN DIEGO -- As the ball left his hand, Endy Rodríguez knew immediately.
"F---, I got it."
Ha-Seong Kim has been an incredibly consistent base runner throughout his major-league career, successfully swiping a bag 36 out of 43 times entering Monday. With the Padres down in the seventh and the heart of the order up, Kim pressed his luck to try to get into scoring position to get a late rally going.
The problem was Rodríguez was going to deliver a throw so perfect to Liover Peguero that the Pirates' rookie catcher started to walk back to the dugout right after he released it:
"Obviously he got a really good jump, but the throw was right there," Rodríguez would tell me.
Kim would be caught stealing, the Padres would not seriously threaten to make things a game after that and the Pirates took game one of their final west coast series Monday at PETCO Park, beating the Padres, 8-4.
And with the youth movement in full gear, it was the rookies who led the way. Quinn Priester pitched into the sixth and got his first big-league win. Carmen Mlodzinski threw leverage innings in relief to keep the Padres at bay. Liover Peguero homered for the first time in his major-league career:
"I honestly didn't know if it was going to go out or not because I kind of hit it off the end," Peguero said. "I don't even know how it went out. I was so happy and I couldn't even believe it when I was running the bases. Thank goodness it went. I couldn't begin to tell you how it feels."
July has been another rough month for the Pirates, but on Monday, they did just about everything well.
"We played a complete game," Derek Shelton said. "I think there was a lot of great things that happened, starting with Quinn."
Priester's second start in the majors got off on the wrong foot, immediately allowing a home run to the leadoff hitter Kim in the first. He would settle in from there, going 5 1/3 innings of three run ball, relying on his sinker and sticking to his original game plan.
"At the end of the day, I know I’m going to do more good things than I’m going to make mistakes," Priester said. "I was able to turn the page. Me and Hedgey [Austin Hedges] talked a little bit prior to the start like, ‘Hey, if you do start getting hit a little bit, what’s the adjustment?’ He’s like, ‘The adjustment is stick to the game plan.’ That’s what we did. We knew what we prepared. Let’s not do anything other than what we prepared for. Let’s go attack these guys and get in the zone. Good things happen."
Priester's first start a week ago started with three perfect frames, but things went sideways once he started pitching to feel rather than what had been planned. He would end up being pulled in the sixth after allowing eight runs in that first outing. He wasn't going to make that mistake again in his second start.
"I was better prepared to commit and stay committed to the plan," Priester said. "That gave me a bunch of confidence, especially second and third time through the order. Even if there was a walk here and there, it was like, ‘I know what I’m doing to this guy. Let’s just get him out and get back in the dugout.’ "
Priester pounded the zone and picked up 19 called strikes and a couple whiffs when he needed them, like striking out Manny Machado for his final out of the evening:
Also doing a bit of a course correction after a shaky first week was Peguero. He showed his first sign of getting back on track offensively Sunday with an opposite field double, but jumping on a sweeper that hung over the heart of the plate shows that he's closer to where he wants to be offensively:
"I felt like in those first ABs when I was over there, I felt like I was a little late," Peguero said. "Now I feel like I'm getting in the rhythm of being on time."
Peguero's home run was one of four the Pirates hit on the night, the others coming from Jack Suwinski and a pair from Carlos Santana. That's now twice this road trip the Pirates have homered four times in a game, the other coming Friday. It could be a sign that the offense is finally starting to stir after long being dormant.
"We just got pitches up in the zone," Shelton said. "We were fortunate [Yu] Darvish left some balls up and we didn't miss them."
If this team is going to get going, it's going to have to be the young players who lead the way. Lineup cards where half of the players are rookies have been common the past week and likely will remain so for the remainder of the season.
Monday was a positive sign the Pirates' rookies can handle that challenge. They can even make a little history along the way, too. According to OPTA Stats, Monday was the first time in Pirates history a player 22 or younger got their first home run and a pitcher 22 or younger got their first win.
"It’s a blast. It really is," Priester said. "It’s awesome to see. You can’t help but get so excited."
And for those guys who were in Class AAA Indianapolis a month or two ago, a team win where they can lead the way is special.
"It's a rare thing," Peguero said. "You don't see that very often. So I feel like having that makes you have more confidence, has you feel like you're more of a family and stuff like that when you have those people around you. They're always there for you. So I feel like that makes everything a little bit better."
GETTY
The Pirates celebrate after the final out Monday night in San Diego.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Team feed
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: 2B Ji Hwan Bae (ankle), 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (lower back)
• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Jack Suwinski, CF
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Henry Davis, RF
6. Jared Triolo, 3B
7. Endy Rodríguez, C
8. Tucupita Marcano, 2B
9. Liover Peguero, SS
And for Bob Melvin's Padres:
1. Ha-Seong Kim, 3B
2. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
3. Juan Soto, LF
4. Manny Machado, DH
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
7. Luis Campusano, C
8. Alfonso Rivas, 1B
9. Trent Grisham, CF
THE SCHEDULE
Rich Hill (7-9, 4.84) will take the mound Tuesday against National League ERA leader Blake Snell (6-8, 2.67). First pitch is set for 9:40 p.m. Eastern.
THE ODDS
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THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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