PITTSBURGH — Friday’s trade of Richard Rodriguez to the Atlanta Braves left the Pirates without a clear-cut closer in their bullpen. Maybe it’ll eventually be David Bednar, maybe someone else. Whoever gets the job, or if no one does, it’ll have to wait, as manager Derek Shelton was noncommittal before Friday’s game.
But thanks to how well the Pirates played while opening a three-game series against the Phillies, figuring out who might close, or if they’ll shift back to a by-committee approach, was hardly necessary.
After their offense cobbled together just four runs over the past four games, the Pirates broke out in a big way against their cross-state rivals, cruising to a 7-0 victory at PNC Park.
The win comes after a tumultuous week where general manager Ben Cherington swung six trades, five involving players on the active roster. This is also a month where the Pirates have just three days where they haven’t made some sort of trade or transaction.
Following Tuesday’s 9-0 loss, Cody Ponce talked about some of the uncertainty that permeated the Pirates clubhouse.
It had become a bit of a running joke to learn who might be coming up, who might be sent down, who was possibly traded or acquired and who did what involving the waiver wire. It created plenty of chatter but also uneasiness.
With the trade portion of that behind them, the focus for the Pirates should shift to things like we saw on Friday.
Stuff such as a terrific starting pitching performance from Wil Crowe, who went six scoreless and continues to show improvement. Crowe is now 3-1 in his last eight starts while allowing two or fewer earned runs in six of those.
Crowe featured a true, four-pitch mix against the Phillies, throwing each one at least 20% of the time, and wound up striking out four.
Crowe’s only issue — and it was a minor one — involved walks, where he gave out one free pass in the first and three in the fourth. Crowe got out of the later jam by getting center fielder Odubel Herrera to line out to short with two outs and the bases loaded.
The Pirates got offensive contributions from up and down their lineup, a welcomed change consider they came into this one hitting .146 over the past four games, striking out 28 times. They were also 0 for 17 with runners in scoring position while stranding 19.
That sort of ineptitude was halted while facing a Phillies team that still has visions of chasing down the Mets in the National League East.
Bryan Reynolds drove in the first of three runs in the first with a triple to right-center. Typical Reynolds, too, the center fielder powering a low-and-outside curveball into a gap.
Gregory Polanco followed by lining another curveball past first baseman Brad Miller to make it 2-0, and Rodolfo Castro was credited with a ground-rule double that scored a run on the first of two head-scratching plays made by Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper in right.
Harper appeared to misjudge this ball off the bat of Castro. It bounced off the warning track and sailed into the stands. It was the first hit of Castro’s career that was not a home run.
The Pirates didn’t stop there, either. Ke’Bryan Hayes ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Phillies starter Vince Velasquez sent it screaming into the left-center gap for a 4-0 lead in the second. Polanco stretched the lead to 5-0 later in the frame by lining a low-and-inside slider off the Clemente Wall.
Entering the game with a .518 OPS, the lowest for any Pirates hitter (among qualifying hitters) in the modern era of franchise history, Kevin Newman chipped in by smacking a two-run double in the fifth inning that turned this one into a 7-0 rout.
Those runs were more than enough for Crowe, who did an excellent job of pounding the strike zone and making sure his tempo stayed up. The Pirates have now scored 26 runs for Crowe in his past three starts.
The outing was important because the Pirates were looking to snap a four-game losing streak, but also because starting pitching figures to be a focal point coming out of the deadline.
Chad Kuhl and JT Brubaker will keep their spots. It’s also likely that one of the newest Pirates, Bryse Wilson, will get an opportunity to get a regular role.
Mitch Keller returned to the team on Friday, with his new role not yet determined, and Steven Brault will almost assuredly make his season debut next week. So, it’s been important for Crowe to show he’s evolved, and that’s exactly what he has done.
Since allowing eight earned runs over four innings June 1 in Kansas City, Crowe has made eight starts, won three and lost one. He has pitched to a 3.98 in those games while striking out 38 (nearly 1 per inning) and walking 18.
