Isaac Mattson didn't have much time to prepare ahead of the Pirates' 2-1 win over the Phillies today at PNC Park, in which he earned his first major-league win. He had just enough time to work through his routine and talk with Henry Davis.
Davis' one piece of advice?
"Strength of attack," Mattson said.
So, when he entered in the seventh to replace Andrew Heaney, who exited with left calf cramping, with a runner on third base, no outs and an inherited 2-0 count against Nick Castellanos in a tie game, he went right after hitters.
He started Castellanos with a high slider before getting three straight calls at the bottom of the zone. Two sliders set up a fastball that caught the bottom edge:
Mattson then challenged J.T. Realmuto with a fastball up and away before locating a slider over the middle, which Realmuto sent to Bryan Reynolds in right.
Bryson Stott, a left-handed pinch-hitter, then stepped into the box.
"Henry came out and did a great job of just running me through the attack plan," Mattson said. "Credit to him for keeping me in the moment and just being able to focus pitch by pitch."
They engaged in a seven-pitch at-bat before Mattson dropped in a low changeup to induce a flyout and strand Alec Bohm.
That changeup was something Don Kelly liked about Mattson when choosing him out of the bullpen. The Phillies had two more righties after Castellanos, but Kelly figured his counterpart, Rob Thomson, would pinch-hit a lefty and saw Mattson as a "neutral" guy who could face either. Lefties have hit .222 off Mattson in 18 major-league at bats over three years, but he'd held them to .176 in 2024.
"Like his changeup against lefties," Kelly said. "So, thought he was a really good matchup.”
Davis hit a solo home run in the bottom half to account for the final score, and Dennis Santana and David Bednar closed it out.
It was a whirlwind day for Mattson, who got the summons from Pittsburgh last night and caught an early flight out of Memphis, Tenn., this morning before arriving at the ballpark around 1:30 p.m.
Although he's pitched on this stage before -- he grew up in Erie, Pa. and played for Pitt -- he called this one "pretty special."
"I get chills thinking about that," Kelly said. "That's story-book right there. For him to have that moment -- talk about the crowd, the energy today was fantastic --For him to come in in that moment and do what he did, then you throw the storyline on top of it, really cool.”
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
12:40 am - 06.08.2025NORTH SHOREGoing Deep: Mattson leans on Davis for first win
Isaac Mattson didn't have much time to prepare ahead of the Pirates' 2-1 win over the Phillies today at PNC Park, in which he earned his first major-league win. He had just enough time to work through his routine and talk with Henry Davis.
Davis' one piece of advice?
"Strength of attack," Mattson said.
So, when he entered in the seventh to replace Andrew Heaney, who exited with left calf cramping, with a runner on third base, no outs and an inherited 2-0 count against Nick Castellanos in a tie game, he went right after hitters.
He started Castellanos with a high slider before getting three straight calls at the bottom of the zone. Two sliders set up a fastball that caught the bottom edge:
Mattson then challenged J.T. Realmuto with a fastball up and away before locating a slider over the middle, which Realmuto sent to Bryan Reynolds in right.
Bryson Stott, a left-handed pinch-hitter, then stepped into the box.
"Henry came out and did a great job of just running me through the attack plan," Mattson said. "Credit to him for keeping me in the moment and just being able to focus pitch by pitch."
They engaged in a seven-pitch at-bat before Mattson dropped in a low changeup to induce a flyout and strand Alec Bohm.
That changeup was something Don Kelly liked about Mattson when choosing him out of the bullpen. The Phillies had two more righties after Castellanos, but Kelly figured his counterpart, Rob Thomson, would pinch-hit a lefty and saw Mattson as a "neutral" guy who could face either. Lefties have hit .222 off Mattson in 18 major-league at bats over three years, but he'd held them to .176 in 2024.
"Like his changeup against lefties," Kelly said. "So, thought he was a really good matchup.”
Davis hit a solo home run in the bottom half to account for the final score, and Dennis Santana and David Bednar closed it out.
It was a whirlwind day for Mattson, who got the summons from Pittsburgh last night and caught an early flight out of Memphis, Tenn., this morning before arriving at the ballpark around 1:30 p.m.
Although he's pitched on this stage before -- he grew up in Erie, Pa. and played for Pitt -- he called this one "pretty special."
"I get chills thinking about that," Kelly said. "That's story-book right there. For him to have that moment -- talk about the crowd, the energy today was fantastic --For him to come in in that moment and do what he did, then you throw the storyline on top of it, really cool.”
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