PITTSBURGH — One of the hard parts for a team like the Pirates, who sell off multiple players at the trade deadline, is what comes next.
The Pirates dealt arguably their best hitter in second baseman Adam Frazier, possibly their best starting pitcher in lefty Tyler Anderson, their closer Richard Rodriguez and two more bullpen arms in Clay Holmes and Austin Davis.
For a team that was already 38-64 at the deadline, that can leave a bare-bones roster, and it’s easy to see how, from an on-field performance perspective, things could get even worse.
On Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies, though, it didn’t feel like a team in the gutter of the NL Central with some of their finest producers out of the picture. In front of the largest crowd at PNC Park this season — 32,071 fans to be exact — the Pirates walked off the Phillies to produce the loudest cheers of the year.
In the bottom of the ninth, in a tie ballgame, center fielder Bryan Reynolds led things off with a double to left center. He moved to third on a groundout, before a walk to first baseman John Nogowski put runners on the corners with one out.
Up came Mr. Walk-off himself, catcher Jacob Stallings, the man with six career walk-offs and multiple this season. He worked a 3-1 count, then bounced a weak grounder to third base. Reynolds broke on the crack of the bat and beat the throw home, sliding through the left leg of Phillies catcher JT Realmuto to give the Pirates a 3-2 win.
JT Brubaker was outstanding for the Pirates. He was as sharp as he’s been all season through his first four innings of work. He retired the Phillies in order in each of the first three innings and would have done the same in the fourth if not for an error on second baseman Rodolfo Castro that allowed Bryce Harper to reach base.
He was aided in the third inning by the Pirates’ offense, which scratched across two runs with an RBI triple from shortstop Kevin Newman and an RBI single from left fielder Ben Gamel to give them an early two-run lead.
At that point, Brubaker was so efficient that it looked like he might have a chance at a historically good outing. In the fifth, however, he gave up two straight singles to start the inning, struck out Didi Gregorious, then permitted another single to load the bases with one out. As dire as that looked, Brubaker wiggled out of the jam with only one run scoring. He then faced the minimum in the sixth before being removed.
The Pirates’ bullpen, however, was not so reliable. That in itself may not be surprising, given that they parted ways with three relievers at the trade deadline: closer Richard Rodriguez, right-hander Clay Holmes and lefty Austin Davis, all of whom have been at least semi-reliable through this season.
What is surprising is who struggled Saturday. With Rodriguez out of the picture, right-hander David Bednar was the favorite to assume closing duties. On Saturday, he entered in the eighth and gave up a double and an RBI single immediately, with Harper’s single to left-center tying the game at 2
Luckily for Bednar, Stallings and Reynolds bailed him out. This is still a team with plenty of flaws, and they may end up struggling mightily without Frazier, Anderson and the like down the stretch, but on Saturday at least there was excitement, sending the Pirates into August on a good note.
