ST. LOUIS — Felipe Vazquez is in search of a solution. The Pirates' closer blew another save Thursday night — his fourth in his past five chances — after entering in the ninth inning with a three-run lead.
Vazquez allowed five runs on 18 pitches and did not record an out. His final pitch, a four-seam fastball over the middle of the plate, resulted in a three-run, walk-off homer by Yairo Muñoz in a 10-8 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Clint Hurdle told reporters Friday the Pirates have no plans to remove Vazquez from the closer role. Instead, they're trying to help Vazquez return to form. Ray Searage, the Pirates' pitching coach, said after the loss that Vazquez's delivery was to blame for the blown save.
Vazquez, on the other hand, said he's unsure what has led to his struggles.
"I don’t think it was about going three days or four days [in a row]," Vazquez said Friday afternoon. "Something like that. It was not my day. I was feeling good. I was making pitches like I did. They just, I don’t know, probably saw something I didn’t know, because they were taking pitches like they knew they were coming. That’s why me and Ray were both working on that. I’m going to keep working on it. I’m going to start watching video on what’s going on, what I’m doing. I’m in a hole right now, ya know. I’ve got to pick up the team."
Vazquez entered the game in the ninth inning to protect a three-run lead, and his sixth pitch of the inning, an elevated four-seam fastball, was pulled down the left-field line by Harrison Bader for a leadoff double. Bader didn't swing at the first four pitches of his at-bat, laying off three fastballs out of the zone, including two on the inner edge.
Tommy Pham, the Cardinals' center fielder, didn't swing at the first pitch of the next at-bat, but he made contact with the second and Sean Rodriguez committed an error on the one-hopper hit to third base. With runners on first and second base, Marcell Ozuna didn't swing at the first two pitches before he fouled off an elevated four-seam fastball over the middle of the plate.
Ozuna then watched the next two pitches get called for balls, resulting in a walk to load the bases. Luke Voit, a first baseman recalled from Triple-A earlier in the day, fouled off two of the first three pitches he saw before Vazquez threw him a curveball down the middle. Voit hit a line drive to center to score two runs, cutting the Pirates' lead to one.
Muñoz then hit a fastball down the middle over the wall in center field for the walk-off win. Vazquez's explanation seemed to indicate he was possibly tipping pitches. When asked if that was the case, he said: "It can be a bunch of stuff. Probably I’m tipping them, and I don’t know. I watched some videos today, and it doesn’t look like I’m tipping, but they’re probably, I don’t know, giving signs. I don’t know. We’re working on it right now."
Clint Hurdle said he and his staff will frequently look at video to see if tipped pitches or a catcher's tell are to blame for a pitcher's struggles, but Hurdle didn't see anything that would indicate Cervelli was at fault.
"We’ve been having conversations with all of our pitchers for a long time," Hurdle said, when asked about tipping pitches. "There are pitchers that tip pitches throughout the game. Sometimes you just can't hit them anyway. Those are always things you look at when guys get hit, especially when you’ve seen Felipe one way, you see him another way. That’s one area where you need to check out things through your video systems, whether there’s pitcher tells, tipping. Sometimes it can be a catcher tell, the way the catcher sets up, so you have to look at the whole package. I don’t think it’s anything with Cervelli, by the way."
Vazquez is unavailable to pitch Friday night because he's thrown on three consecutive days. Hurdle will consider giving Vazquez a few days off if they're able. That could be challenging since the Pirates have a seven-man bullpen. Helping a closer through a situation such as this isn't easy, either. Unlike other relievers, it doesn't benefit a closer to work on any adjustments in low-leverage situations.
"It’s a whole different ball game for them," Hurdle said. "Some of those men, the adrenaline actually is a big part of what they do."
Opponents have batted .480 against Vazquez during his past six appearances, and he's struck out only two of the 28 batters he's faced in that span. Vazquez's fastball velocity has also been inconsistent, and his swing-and-miss rate is down from last season. He has 23 strikeouts to 10 walks in 22 1/3, and his WHIP rose to 1.56 following the blown save Thursday.
He was effective his previous two outings, though. Vazquez threw his four fastest pitches of the season against the Cubs on Tuesday, and he closed out a 2-1 win Wednesday, although he allowed two hits. Vazquez complained of pain in his throwing arm following his blown save last Sunday; however, he was diagnosed with irritation in the flexor muscle after his MRI came back clean.
Both Hurdle and Vazquez said health isn't to blame for the regression, though.
"Looking back, I have no idea what happened yesterday," Vazquez said. "I came in like I did the two days before. I tried to focus on doing my job, but it didn’t come out the way I wanted. It kind of sucks not being able to lock that win."
