While the Pirates lost to the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park Sunday, 2-0, it was a successful major league debut for starter James Marvel.
The 25-year-old right-hander lasted 5+ innings and allowed two runs on four hits and two walks. A couple bloops in the fifth inning and a Paul Goldschmidt gap shot in the sixth were the only times the Cardinals could get anything going all day.
"There's nothing to not be pleased about," Clint Hurdle said of Marvel's outing. "Unpredictable, worked fast, efficient, wasn't afraid of the barrel, challenged hitters, got outs ... Fun to watch."
Marvel was quick to give credit to his battery mate, Jacob Stallings.
"He was incredible back there," Marvel said. "Really got me through it, called an incredible game and we had a good game plan from the get-go, and having a guy like that back there the whole time really just allowed me to focus on executing pitches and nothing else."
Relying on and working with his catchers has been a theme of Marvel's rapid climb through the organization this season. In AA, Marvel would talk to the Curve's catchers, Jason Delay and Arden Pabst, throughout games, even when he was not pitching. He was trying to learn everything he could about opposing hitters. That continued after he made the jump to Indianapolis in July.
"I think he's always just looking for information," Steve Baron was telling me. Baron spent the season in AAA Indianapolis and caught Marvel there before being promoted in September. "He would ask questions. He's just prepared."
Stallings stressed being prepared as well. He had not caught Marvel before, not even in a minicamp or spring training, so he made it a point to be the one to catch his bullpen session this week since he suspected he would be paired with him in his debut. He was right.
"He's a smart guy, and he gave me a good idea of what he likes to do," Stallings was telling me. "I talked to Steve Baron a lot, just get a feel for what worked down in AAA so well."
That meant Stallings was the recipient of Marvel's questions and talks leading up to Sunday.
"He got here on Thursday, and pretty much every day he was in communication with me," Stallings said. "... We sat together during the game yesterday and talked about their hitters and their lineup. He already had notes ready. He had done his research.
"Smart guy. Very cerebral. Even though he went to Duke."
Oh yeah, that's right. The Blue Devil was throwing to a Tar Heel. Any college basketball flare-ups this weekend?
"No," Stallings responded, with a smile.
• While Marvel pitched well in his debut, the Cards' Jack Flaherty was brilliant. He entered on a torrid streak, having allowed just six earned runs in the second half of the season, good for a 0.76 ERA. On Sunday, he struck out 10 over eight innings with only six base runners allowed.
Flaherty had a good track record against the Pirates, but this was his best start against them.
"He's gotten better," Hurdle said. "... He was covering 20 miles an hour from fastball to his slowest breaking ball."
Pirates batters only had two hard hit balls — those with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph — all game, per Baseball Savant.
• Flaherty got some help from home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz, getting plenty of called strikes on pitches outside of the strike zone.
Things finally boiled over in the seventh when Hurdle was tossed after a called strike on a low and away pitch to Adam Frazier. Frazier was rung up on a borderline offering on the next pitch and was tossed as well.
"It's been all weekend," Hurdle said. "... It was hard to watch. Go back and watch at-bats throughout the weekend. It was just a culmination of things."
• Flaherty got the calls, but Marvel had the better cheering section. 40 members of his family were in section 113 rooting for him. Elsewhere in the ballpark, there were 20 members of his girlfriend's family.
And they were loud.
“I’ve always felt that I can’t really hear things when I’m pitching,” Marvel said. “I tend to just kind of zone out and really focus on what I’m doing, and the glove. But I’d be lying if I said that [Sunday] there weren’t a few instances when I heard them. That was special.”
Among the hoard was his father, John, who had to miss work to be there. John Marvel's job is managing editor of news and features for NFL Media. He missed week one of the NFL season, but he was not going to miss this game.
"The ovation they gave him when he left the game was just something special and a proud moment," John Marvel told me over the phone. "Something I'll never forget."
• We will be seeing more of Marvel down the stretch. Neal Huntington told reporters today the team will use a six man rotation down the stretch, and Marvel will be part of it.
• Starling Marte was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the ninth after doing this to his left wrist in the top half of the inning:
Marte said he had imaging done and it is a bruise, not a fracture. He had his wrist wrapped.
• Reynolds' watch: It was an 0-for-4 day for Bryan Reynolds, which lowered his batting average to .327. He dropped to fourth place in the chase, now trailing Anthony Rendon (.337), Ketel Marte (.330) and Christian Yelich (.330).
• The Pirates went 5-14 against the Cardinals this season, resulting in a .263 winning percentage. According to Baseball-Reference's Play Index, the last time they won five or fewer games against them was in 2009, when they went 5-10. The last time they had a worse winning percentage against St. Louis was in 2005, when they went 4-12 (.250).
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Chris Archer (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Chris Stratton (10-day IL, right side inflammation)
• Yefry Ramirez (10-day IL, right calf strain)
• Gregory Polanco (60-day IL, shoulder)
• Lonnie Chisenhall (60-day IL, last seen at the Springfield Mystery Spot)
Here's the most recent full report.
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates are heading west, getting ready for a four-game series against the Giants starting Monday. Trevor Williams (7-6, 5.16) is scheduled to start the series opener against Madison Bumgarner (9-8, 3.81). Hunter Homistek has the coverage.
THE COVERAGE
All our baseball content, including Mound Visit by Jason Rollison, Indy Watch by Matt Welch, and Altoona Watch by Jarrod Prugar, can be found on our Pirates page.
