Extra bases: Baz stifles Pirates with career-high 10 Ks
Almost six years after the Pirates shipped Shane Baz to the Rays as a part of the Chris Archer trade, the hard-throwing 25-year-old, showed his former organization exactly what they are missing.
Before tonight, Baz had never pitched against the Pirates and he made his start count. While sitting in the high-90s with his fastball consistently and even surpassing 100 mph once, Baz utilized an efficient pitch mix with his fastball, slider and curveball. He also mixed in 12 changeups. He struck out a career-high 10 batters while drawing 44 swings and 13 whiffs. His curveball was his best pitch as it produced a 50% whiff rate.
"I felt like I commanded that (curveball) and the fastball really well tonight and that just makes it a lot harder on hitters, I think, having to work on that speed difference and the up-and-down movement that they have," Baz said. "It just felt good."
Baz threw six innings, scattered seven hits and didn't walk a batter, which is just the second time he's recorded zero walks while pitching six innings or more. However, he was also able to stifle the Pirates when they did manage to string a few hits together as he induced two double plays.
The right-hander also nullified back-to-back hits by Ke'Bryan Hayes and Jared Triolo in the top of the fifth inning when he got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground out to short and then ended the threat by striking out Jack Suwinski, who accounted for three of the Pirates' 15 strikeouts on the night.
"I mean we hit into what, three or four double plays," Derek Shelton said when I asked why they weren't able to push a run across despite tying their season-high with nine hits. "We had some situations where we had runners at first and second, nobody out. Runner at first and second, one out and we just couldn’t get a ball to get through. We have to get some balls in the gaps and right now we are just not getting any of those."
• Tommy Pham continues to struggle at the plate. He went 0-for-4 again tonight and is hitting .095 on the season. He's tallied just two hits and is tied for the team lead with eight strikeouts.
• After stealing 15 bases against the Marlins, the Pirates have stolen just two bases against the Rays in the past two days.
• Kiner-Falefa went 1-for-3 tonight and is hitting .333 through the Pirates' first six games.
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
4:27 am - 04.02.2025TAMPA, FLA.Extra bases: Baz stifles Pirates with career-high 10 Ks
Almost six years after the Pirates shipped Shane Baz to the Rays as a part of the Chris Archer trade, the hard-throwing 25-year-old, showed his former organization exactly what they are missing.
Before tonight, Baz had never pitched against the Pirates and he made his start count. While sitting in the high-90s with his fastball consistently and even surpassing 100 mph once, Baz utilized an efficient pitch mix with his fastball, slider and curveball. He also mixed in 12 changeups. He struck out a career-high 10 batters while drawing 44 swings and 13 whiffs. His curveball was his best pitch as it produced a 50% whiff rate.
"I felt like I commanded that (curveball) and the fastball really well tonight and that just makes it a lot harder on hitters, I think, having to work on that speed difference and the up-and-down movement that they have," Baz said. "It just felt good."
Baz threw six innings, scattered seven hits and didn't walk a batter, which is just the second time he's recorded zero walks while pitching six innings or more. However, he was also able to stifle the Pirates when they did manage to string a few hits together as he induced two double plays.
The right-hander also nullified back-to-back hits by Ke'Bryan Hayes and Jared Triolo in the top of the fifth inning when he got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground out to short and then ended the threat by striking out Jack Suwinski, who accounted for three of the Pirates' 15 strikeouts on the night.
"I mean we hit into what, three or four double plays," Derek Shelton said when I asked why they weren't able to push a run across despite tying their season-high with nine hits. "We had some situations where we had runners at first and second, nobody out. Runner at first and second, one out and we just couldn’t get a ball to get through. We have to get some balls in the gaps and right now we are just not getting any of those."
• Tommy Pham continues to struggle at the plate. He went 0-for-4 again tonight and is hitting .095 on the season. He's tallied just two hits and is tied for the team lead with eight strikeouts.
• After stealing 15 bases against the Marlins, the Pirates have stolen just two bases against the Rays in the past two days.
• Kiner-Falefa went 1-for-3 tonight and is hitting .333 through the Pirates' first six games.
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