Chase De Jong deserved better than what his bullpen gave him Sunday.
The newly called-up Pirates right-hander had, for the most part, dazzled against the Colorado Rockies. He allowed no hits at all through his first three innings, then gave up an RBI triple from Charlie Blackmon in the fourth. He shut the Rockies down again in the fifth, though.
It was another phenomenal team debut for a player called up from Class AAA Indianapolis. He began some trouble in the sixth inning, though, allowing a single before being pulled from the game for left-hander Sam Howard.
Howard proceeded to walk the bases loaded, threatening to soil what would be De Jong’s second career MLB win and his first as a Pirate. But Howard bounced back, striking out the next two batters before making way for right-hander Clay Holmes, who promptly struck out the third batter on three pitches, preserving the Pirates’ lead.
Then, in the eighth inning, right-hander Kyle Crick got into some trouble. He allowed a double and a walk, struck out a batter, then hit another in the back. With the bases loaded, one out and clinging to a two-run lead, Crick struck out Rockies catcher Dom Nunez then walked pinch-hitting CJ Cron to permit a run. The Pirates turned to closer Richard Rodriguez, who promptly slammed the door, getting a flyout to finish the eighth.
Those two were nervy, but ultimately inconsequential. The ninth is when it finally unraveled. Rodriguez stayed in to attempt a four-out save. He induced a flyout to right. Then, a 12-pitch at-bat against Rockies second baseman Ryan McMahon ended with a walk, before Blackmon did it again, punishing a ball to the wall in right-center to score McMahon from first.
Two batters later, Rockies first baseman Matt Adams singled Blackmon home, too. In the blink of an eye, the Pirates went from what looked like a weekend sweep to a crushing, 4-3 loss in rather unlikely circumstances.
The story of the day was De Jong’s call-up, which made him the third Class AAA starter to get a chance with the Pirates, following Miguel Yajure and Cody Ponce. The difference between him and the others is that he doesn’t have any minor-league options remaining. So the Pirates needed to pick a time when they could bring De Jong up and allow him to make at least a few starts to prove his capabilities.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said as much Sunday, emphasizing that they feel this is a time when they can give De Jong some runway. That is a bit surprising, given that the Pirates now have five starters in De Jong, Keller, Brubaker, Anderson and Crowe, with right-handers Trevor Cahill and Chad Kuhl about to return to the rotation.
“Yeah, I think our hope is that we have a little bit of a runway now,” Cherington said before the game. “We wanted to have some confidence about that because he obviously wasn’t on the roster. He is now. He is out of options. We hope that there’s there’s an opportunity for him. We’ll see how today goes. Expect him to do well and see where we go from there. Our hope is that we can get him an opportunity for some period of time.”
Cherington gave the endorsement, and De Jong gave him the effort, striking out five while allowing just three hits and one unintentional walk over five innings.
It was shaping up to be the way the Pirates have typically won games this season, with a strong performance from their starter, a shutdown effort from their bullpen and just enough offense to get out on top.
The problem this time was the bullpen, the most consistent unit on the team this season. Crick hadn’t allowed three baserunners in the same inning the entire season until he did it Sunday. Rodriguez hadn’t blown a save all season and hadn’t walked a batter since April 1.
Those are normally two of the Pirates’ rocks. On Sunday, they couldn’t tie the game down like they normally do, and it put a stop to what would have been De Jong’s first MLB win in almost three years, in addition to halting what would have been a refreshingly successful weekend for the Pirates.
