MILWAUKEE -- "That was fun, man!"
This was Chris Archer, earlier in the weekend, recalling for me the riveting atmosphere at PNC Park the night he made his fist-pumping, F-bombing debut and had the place rocking.
It most certainly was not Archer after this:
Boom, boom, boom, the Brewers' bats rang out all afternoon all over Miller Park, toward a 7-4 bombing that left the Pirates limping toward the next leg of this nine-game trip and left Archer ... well, who knows?
"I didn't execute. Five consecutive hits. Six runs in one inning. I just have to be better," Archer would say with a slight sigh. "I know I keep saying that, but ... my stuff's good, everything feels good, I just have to execute at a higher level. One or two mistakes is OK. A six-run inning is inexcusable."
That was the Milwaukee third, highlighted by the two-run blasts above by Mike Moustakas and Manny Pina.
"The rest of our staff has done a great job this whole month that I've been here," Archer continued. "I need to be better."
Clint Hurdle didn't offer many answers, either.
"They hit the mistakes," he'd say of the Brewers in the third. "They hit a couple sliders left up over the plate, and they both got hit hard. They basically capitalized on missed location. He had three other innings where I thought he spotted up his fastball well, got his offspeed where he wanted it. There was a lot of good to hunt from here, and there are things you can learn from mistakes. You're going to have rough stretches. He's having one. He's going to figure it out."
Really, who can figure this out?
I mean, the line was unquestionably ugly: Four innings, six runs on seven hits, plus a couple of walks and, maybe most peculiarly, five strikeouts.
That's what's been odd all along. The fastball's ranged around 96 mph, with the customary bite, and the slider's drawn consistent swings and misses. Those comprise more than three-quarters of the pitches he throws, so they're pretty much all that matters. And they're fine in terms of effectiveness, if not consistent command.
In fact, in the five starts since the trade that had our city's baseball fans singing on Federal Street, Archer's got a 6.45 ERA but also 24 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings, and his advanced analytics suggest at least a modicum of lousy luck.
Still, something's off. And it isn't the stuff.
He told me it's not finishing off two-strike counts:
He might be right: He took nine of the 21 batters he faced to two-strike counts. One ended up in a hit, a Lorenzo Cain triple that led to the first run, another was a walk, and another was a sac fly. But two others led to groundouts, and four others were swinging strikeouts, including his final two batters.
Maybe it's just bearing down?
Look, people are going to prematurely bury Archer over this first month. Already, there's a collective outcry that the trade was a mistake. I get that. Emotions were high when the Pirates were a rare player for a big fish on deadline day, and emotions were higher when they stunningly emerged as the winner.
I advised some calm, some rationality at the time, given that Archer's past two seasons have been way more about being durable than about being dynamic. But I liked the trade at the time, and I'm not about to bail before a month is up.
Why I liked it:
1. This front office has no choice but to augment the team's talent from the outside since it can't draft and develop its own. If that's punting, so be it. Then punt well.
2. Archer takes the ball every fifth day as well as anyone in the majors. The general public tends to roll the eyes at this facet because it makes everyone sound like Josh Fogg, but it's among the most-valued commodities by baseball executives and managers.
3. Archer's locked into an eminently affordable rate through 2022, averaging $8.5 million a year. That means a lot to a team that can't/won't spend. And, like the drafting/developing issue, it's imperative to work with the hand that's dealt.
None of that's changed. He'll be better.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE• I spent a lot of time with Archer here through this series. I believe him when he insists it isn't the pressure of the trade.
"I came to this team knowing people were excited, knowing there were high expectations," he told me. "I love that. I loved that first night in Pittsburgh. I'm disappointed it hasn't worked out the way I've hoped so far, but nothing's changed about how I feel."
• Elias Diaz will be better, too. He's had what reasonably could be called a breakout summer, and he's shown himself to be a fine catcher in all regards.
But he's dropping throws from the outfield, including these two in the Milwaukee third:
Neither throw was accurate, Gregory Polanco's running up the first base line and Corey Dickerson's getting airmailed. But both needed to be caught and, in the case of the Polanco throw, one cost a run.
Hurdle acknowledged it's something he and bench coach Tom Prince have been discussing.
"We’ve picked up some things on video. We might be a little quick to the tag," Hurdle said. "We’ll talk to him. We’ll work on it."
• Great to see Adam Frazier not only starting but also second in the order and rapping another home run, a two-run shot in the sixth -- off a changeup, no less, "that I stayed right through," as he told me -- and a single. That sounds just about right for these final six weeks. Again, now's the time.
• Hey, everyone, Nick Kingham's back!
The Pirates had just rallied to pull within 6-4 in the top of the sixth, and Kingham promptly served up his 14th home run of 2018 -- in just 63 innings! -- to Jonathan Schoop in the bottom half.
Time to update the graphic, I guess:
• That rally consisted of Frazier's home run, followed by one from Polanco, and it could have been more. Francisco Cervelli singled to chase Chase Anderson, but Dickerson grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Dickerson initially was called safe at first, but the umpiring crew gathered and called Cervelli for runner's interference, sliding well off the base.
It's rare, but no one argued.
"Nothing we can do. That’s the rule," Hurdle said. "If we get that call, they challenge, and New York overturns it. You have to go at the base."
• The Crew sure looks legit, right?
I'm not sure they're the best team in the National League because I'm not sure there is a best team, but they've positioned themselves well enough in all facets -- OK, maybe not starting pitching -- to compete with anyone from the Cubs down in the playoffs. They're back in the wild card picture after taking two of three, and they're 4 1/2 behind Chicago in the Central.
"We like the group we have, and we like what we're doing," Moustakas said. "We just need to keep putting everything together. This was a good weekend for us."
• As for the Pirates' overall state of contention, beyond rattling off the obligatories -- 64-67 record, 8 1/2 out of the wild card -- there really isn't much to say. Which, of course, didn't stop me from saying it:
• I spent much of the weekend with Josh Bell. Fascinating individual, fascinating case study. That'll top Tuesday's Grind.
