ST. LOUIS — When Yairo Muñoz's bat connected with the fastball, Felipe Vazquez slowly turned toward center field and watched as the ball landed over the wall at Busch Stadium. St. Louis' players rushed out of the first base dugout, crowding home plate to mob the unlikely hero.
As Vazquez walked off the field, head down, the Cardinals celebrated the 10-8 walkoff win over the Pirates on Thursday night. Muñoz's three-run shot capped a five-run ninth inning when Vazquez failed to record an out, and it came after the Pirates had flipped a four-run deficit into a three-run lead.
It was Vazquez's fourth blown save in his past five opportunities, and he left the visitors clubhouse without speaking to reporters. He hasn't revealed what specifically has ailed him on the mound; however, Ray Searage, the Pirates' pitching coach, explained how Vazquez's competitiveness can negatively impact his mechanics.
"He's going out so far out in front," Searage told DKPittsburghSports.com. "He's over-competitive. He has to make sure he stays on his back leg. When he doesn’t, the ball doesn’t go where he wants it to go. You have to do that work in between and hopefully it clicks. Hopefully sooner than later."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOThe Pirates, now 29-27 and 6 1/2 games back of the first-place Brewers, led by three runs in the ninth inning after Francisco Cervelli hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the eighth off Bud Norris. Vazquez, who pitched a scoreless inning in each of the past two games, entered in the ninth and allowed a double down the left-field line when he threw a 97-mph four-seam fastball high and over the plate. Sean Rodriguez then failed to handle a one-hopper from Tommy Pham at third base, and Vazquez walked Marcell Ozuna on five pitches to load the bases.
Luke Voit, a first baseman recalled from Triple-A earlier Thursday, delivered a two-run single on a curveball thrown over the middle of the plate, cutting the Pirates' lead to one. And Muñoz, a 23-year-old shortstop who made his major-league debut in March, did this one pitch later:
That's a 96-mph four-seam fastball over the middle of the plate, and Muñoz, who had only one home run in 50 at-bats, drove it an estimated 410 feet to give the Pirates their second walk-off loss of the season.
"It’s baseball," Trevor Williams, who allowed five runs in five innings, said. "As weird as it is, it’s designed to break your heart. It’s a tough loss for us."
Clint Hurdle added: "This is a rough way to finish that game."
After all, it was one of their best games offensively this month. Gregory Polanco, mired in a 0-for-22 slump entering the day, went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, including a game-tying RBI double in the fifth inning. The Cardinals, 30-24 and 1/2 game out of second place, regained the lead with another run off Williams. Cervelli, though, gave the Pirates the lead by driving this cutter over the wall in left:
That was Cervelli's eighth home run — surpassing his previous career high of seven, set over 130 games in 2015 — and it put the Pirates in position for their 15th comeback win. They had 15 hits, including at least one from eight different players. Josh Bell hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning — his first since May 11 against the Giants — and Colin Moran began the rally in the eighth inning with a leadoff single.
However, Vazquez, who blew two saves in 23 opportunities in 2017, threw 18 pitches without recording an out. He's allowed at least one hit in six of his last seven appearances, raising his ERA to 4.84 and WHIP to 1.57. He's failed to record an out in two of his last six appearances, and his swing-and-miss rate is down from last season.
"We saw a guy that was electric the last two nights,"Hurdle said. "I thought to start off, it was coming out of his hand good, couldn’t get any swings outside the zone and they barreled up everything in the zone. We’ll look at the tape again. We’ve seen a little bit of this before."
Vazquez had a 1.67 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 75 1/3 innings for the Pirates last season, striking out 88 with 20 walks. That earned him a four-year contract extension this offseason, but his struggles began in spring training, when he was unable to repeat his delivery. To fix the issue, the Pirates sent him to the back fields of Pirate City to pitch in a minor-league game.
Now, they're trying to help him make a similar mechanical adjustment while still pitching in high-leverage situations, as Searage explained.
Vazquez reached 98 mph with his four-seam fastball, yet he failed to produce one swinging strike. The 26-year-old also threw three curveballs, despite having thrown only 41 the entire season. Voit hit one over the middle for the two-run single. Vazquez seemed to be making progress, though.
He threw his four fastest pitches of the season in a scoreless ninth inning Tuesday against the Cubs, although the Pirates were trailing by four runs at the time. Vazquez earned his 10th save of the season Wednesday by pitching a scoreless ninth in a 2-1 win, but he gave up two hits before closing it out.
Both outings made Hurdle optimistic, especially after Vazquez complained of pain in his throwing arm following his blown save last Sunday. The Pirates have lost nine of their last 10 games and failed to capitalize against a rival on the road. Hurdle emphasized the need to get over the loss quickly; however, he, Searage and bullpen coach Euclides Rojas plan to take a closer look at what went wrong in the ninth inning.
"He’s gone three [games in a row] before, so it didn’t come out how he wanted," Hurdle said. "It didn’t come out the way we wanted."
1. Offense a "silver lining" in the loss.
The Pirates made it easy for Jack Flaherty last Saturday. Flaherty, a 22-year-old right-hander, allowed one run on six innings. There were few long at-bats with him on the mound at PNC Park, and the Pirates went on to lose to the Cardinals, 4-1. This time he struggled to keep his pitch count down.
Flaherty needed 18 pitches to get through the first inning and threw 29 pitches in the second, although he allowed only one run on an RBI single by Jordy Mercer. Flaherty threw 84 pitches through four innings, but Mike Matheny chose to keep him in for the fifth. Bell then barreled up a slider thrown over the middle of the plate, hitting the ball over the wall in right-center for a two-run homer to tie the score, 4-4.
Bell batted .189 over his previous 10 games, and it was his only his fourth home run of the season. To compare, Bell had nine home runs on May 31 last season. Although Cervelli's three-run homer gave the Pirates the lead, Hurdle was quick to point out the achievements of everyone on offense, especially their ability to chase Flaherty and get to the Cardinals' bullpen, which entered the game with the third-highest ERA in the National League.
"It was a good battle by [Cervelli]," Hurdle said. "It was a good battle by everybody. He got the big hit, but everybody else had to throw in something to get us to five and tied. … Offensively we had bats that kept showing up, guys putting on good swings."
2. Cervelli frustrated by hit-by-pitches.
Flaherty's 91-mph four-seam fastball struck Cervelli on the inside of his right arm in the fifth inning, causing Cervelli to spike his helmet on the ground and throw his bat in frustration. Bryan Housand, the Pirates' head athletic trainer, and Hurdle left the dugout to check on Cervelli, but he stayed in the game. It was the eighth time this season Cervelli has been hit by a pitch, tying his career-high from 2015, when he was hit eight times in 130 games.
He also got hit in the exact same spot against the White Sox on May 15, and the swelling from that hit-by-pitch forced him to miss the following game. Cervelli changed his batting stance at the plate over the offseason and is now standing more upright while implementing a leg kick to produce more power.
Pitchers are attacking Cervelli inside more often in two-strike counts. After all, he's been more aggressive on inside pitches this season. But that's come at a price; they're missing inside more often than he'd like.
3. Harrison adds value even when he doesn't get on base.
Harrison, making his 10th start since coming off the disabled list, led off the game by pulling the second pitch to left for a single. He's now 14 for 46 in the leadoff spot since returning; however, he doesn't need to get on base to help the Pirates' offense.
When Harrison does record an out, he'll return to the dugout to tell his teammates what pitch he saw during his at-bat and will offer tips to teammates as to how to attack whomever is on the mound. They don't wait for his advice, either. When Harrison was at the plate in the first inning, Corey Dickerson, the Pirates' No. 5 hitter, was standing near the dugout steps with a bat in his hands, acting as if he was waiting to face Flaherty.
Such a practice isn't unusual. Players keep an eye on every at-bat. But having a veteran at the top of the order can provide the Pirates with invaluable insight. After all, Harrison has batted .300 with a .780 OPS in 243 career games leading off in the majors.
"I enjoy it a lot because not only will I tell them what I see, I also try to give them a little boost of confidence to let them know we’re going to get this guy," Harrison said. "A lot of times, leading off, you have to come back and let the guys know, ‘We’re going to get this guy.’ I try to stay within it and let guys know we can do it."
