PITTSBURGH — If there were ever positive vibes heading into a Pirates game, Saturday’s matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays had them.
The Pirates held a full pregame ceremony to honor their inaugural team Hall of Fame class, with team legends Steve Blass, Bill Mazeroski and Dave Parker on the field, and family members of other famed former Pirates like Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Ralph Kiner and Honus Wagner there too. It all served as a reminder of the years past when the Pirates reached mountaintops on the backs of their all-time best players.
Unfortunately, the 2022 Pirates aren’t on track to reach any mountaintops.
They started the game strong on the back of rookie right-hander Roansy Contreras and an RBI triple from rookie shortstop Oneil Cruz, but the late innings didn’t do the Pirates any favors in a 4-1 loss.
Namely, the seventh inning treated the Pirates unkindly. Right-handed reliever Duane Underwood Jr., entered in a tie game, spelling Contreras after six one-run innings. He got a quick out before a single put some danger on the base paths. Then the pitch count started ticking up.
Underwood issued a full-count walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., pitched into another full count before striking out Teoscar Hernandez, then walked Matt Chapman in yet another full count. That was just the appetizer, as Underwood proceeded to lose a 10-pitch battle against Bo Bichette, who roped a bases-clearing double into the left-field corner for the game-deciding play.
The Pirates would go on to threaten in the eighth, putting runners on the corners with two outs, but rookie outfielder Jack Suwinski, representing the potential game-tying run, struck out swinging for the third time in the game.
As stated, those late-inning shortcomings squandered another really strong start from Contreras. Against a lineup that is top five in all slash-line categories in MLB this season, he didn’t necessarily tear through them, but he danced around most trouble he faced.
Two walks and strikeout and wild pitch put two on with two outs in the first, but Contreras forced an easy flyout to left. Two singles in the third were wiped away by a strikeout of Chapaman. In the fourth, Contreras did give up his lone run after two straight hits to start the inning and an RBI groundout plated one.
In total, though, Contreras stranded seven runners on base en route to a six-inning, one-run effort on four hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
The Pirates just couldn’t keep the good vibes from Contreras and the pregame ceremony going, serving as yet another reminder in this long painful season that there is still a lot of work to do before anything resembling the glory years returns to Pittsburgh.
