PHOENIX — Chase De Jong's MLB debut was filled with so much promise. Facing Colorado back on May 30, the 27-year-old right-hander attacked the strike zone and allowed just one earned run over five innings, walking two and striking out five.
While De Jong doesn't necessarily possess lights-out stuff, he was aggressive and smart enough to make it work. It look like he may have a chance to stick in the rotation if he continued to pitch the way he did against the Rockies.
Those days seem long ago.
That the Pirates lost to the Diamondbacks, 4-2, at Chase Field on Monday wasn't entirely De Jong's fault. It was a close game, the Pirates struggled to find some holes, and they simply couldn't come through in some key situations, going 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11.
They had the go-ahead run at the plate in the ninth, although Gregory Polanco struck out swinging to end it.
However, De Jong gave up three home runs, was hit hard for much of the night and endured another start where he gave up four or more runs; that's now happened in five of the nine De Jong has had at this level. He’s now 1-4 with a 5.77 ERA.
It’s certainly been mediocre enough to wonder whether the Pirates have a better option to fill that spot.
It's not fair to De Jong or any pitcher, but with this lineup — especially with Adam Frazier resting, and Kevin Newman leading off — the margin for error is obviously very thin.
The Pirates (36-58) had been riding a hot streak, winning seven of 11 after a six-game losing skid, but nobody could possibly believe this team was hitting .302 since that stretch started back on July 4, the second-highest such mark in MLB behind the Padres (.310).
Outside of the seventh inning, the Pirates — who had won 15 of their last 26 games here — really didn't threaten much. Ben Gamel contributed their only extra-base hit, while the worst-in-baseball Diamondbacks had seven against Pirates pitching.
The third and final home run the Diamondbacks hit off of De Jong was the backbreaker, perhaps because of how little the Pirates were able to generate offensively.
It came in the fifth inning, after right fielder Kole Calhoun worked a one-out walk. Third baseman Eduardo Escobar, who hit a career-high 20 home runs in the first half, got a fastball down and in, turned on it and lined it into the right-field seats.
All three of the Diamondbacks’ homers went to a similar part of Chase Field, while it brings to 11 the number of home runs De Jong has allowed in his nine major league starts.
A pair of misplaced, predictable pitches helped the Diamondbacks grab a 2-0 lead with back-to-back dingers off De Jong in the second inning.
Center fielder Pavin Smith got the first one, when he pulled a full-count changeup that De Jong left too much over the middle of the plate. Next came a smash from second baseman Josh VanMeter. De Jong’s four-seam fastball was in a slightly better spot, but it didn’t fool VanMeter, who got all of it.
The Pirates did finally break through with a pair of runs in the seventh, cutting Arizona's lead in half. Ke'Bryan Hayes stroked a single through the right side for the Pirates' first run. Then Bryan Reynolds barreled a ball up the middle for his second hit of the game, scoring Kevin Newman.
After John Nogowski walked, the Pirates had a chance with Adam Frazier pinch-hitting and the bases loaded. However, Frazier swung through a curveball from Diamondbacks reliever Joe Mantiply, ending the inning.
The homers started a stretch in which Arizona had four extra-base hits in five at-bats, as it looked like De Jong’s outing might spiral out of control when third baseman Eduardo Escobar roped a 420-foot triple to open the third inning.
A credit to De Jong, however, he buckled down a couple batters later, ironically after taking a comebacker off his leg.
De Jong made a tough, athletic play by flipping to Nogowski for the second out of the inning. Either because of a bad read or being entirely too tentative, Escobar never scored from third, and it wound up becoming an opportunity lost when De Jong struck out Smith to end the inning.
While Arizona frittered away an opportunity to score, the Pirates had their own collection of near misses and blown opportunities. A four-pitch third inning stands out. The Pirates in this one were a little too over-aggressive and failed to work counts. Also the ball that Kevin Newman hooked foul with the bases loaded in the second inning.
Even De Jong, batting with two on in the fourth, hit a grounder in the hole that created a tough play for shortstop Josh Rojas. The throw bounced, and first baseman Christian Walker did a terrific job picking it to end the inning.
Reynolds made a 105.6 mph ground out in the third inning. In the fifth, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a ball 379 feet that was caught for another out. But Facing Caleb Smith, a 29-year-old who had allowed 14 runs in his past two starts, the Pirates struggled to do any sort of damage.
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