BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Pirates' offense broke out of their early spring slump Sunday afternoon against the Blue Jays, stringing together long rallies early and then adding home runs late to win, 13-9.
Absent from the offensive explosion was Kyle Crick. Instead, he was making firewood of the Toronto bats, shattering two in his inning of work in the seventh.
"I didn't hear the first one break, but the second one I definitely heard," Crick said with a laugh after the game. "It almost hit me!"
It was the first time Crick had pitched in a game since Sept. 8. He remembered that date, rattling it off, unprompted.
That outing was fairly uneventful, striking out two and walking one in a scoreless inning in St. Louis. The following day was more impactful, as he injured his right index finger in a clubhouse altercation with Felipe Vazquez. Crick underwent surgery for extensor tendon repair surgery shortly after, ending his season.
In the days following the surgery, the same thought kept creeping back into his head: "You've got to get back on the mound."
"Not just back to normal, but better than I was before," Crick said.
That thought stuck with him through his rehab and nearly five month wait between outings. Now he says his right hand is stronger than his left and is pretty close to being back to normal. Looking at it this offseason, he started to think the hand may end up being even stronger than it was before.
So after thinking about this return for so long, were you nervous, Crick?
"I'd say there's a lot of emotions in there, nerves being one of them, but more so, it was excitement," Crick said.
The Pirates will be counting on Crick to deliver quality innings this year for a bullpen that is in transition. After a terrific 2018 campaign with the team, he stumbled in 2019, posting an ERA close to 5 and one of the worst walk rates in baseball.
Crick talked about how he is looking to stay focused this year, finishing pitches with conviction and coming in with a consistent approach. If he does that, his results will almost surely be closer to 2018.
"Everybody knows that the slider is an elite pitch," Derek Shelton said of Crick.
Crick's now looking for that normal soreness that follows early season outings. That means he's closer to being ready for the start of the regular season.
Like with many of the other players coming back from injury, Shelton mentioned how good it was to see Crick with a smile on his face leaving the game. It was hard to miss.
"I'm just glad I can go out and throw baseballs again," Crick said.
• Earlier this week, Derek Shelton revealed he planned to use a four man outfield at times this season. On Sunday, it was finally deployed against Cavan Biggio, who had the second-lowest ground ball rate in baseball last year.
So how does one align a defense for such a situation? Well, second baseman Adam Frazier went out to left-center, while Jarrod Dyson played right center and Reynolds and Jared Oliva moved closer to the lines. Shortstop Cole Tucker went to the second base side, and Colin Moran played between third base and short.
Joey Cora was the one who approached Shelton Sunday morning with the idea that Biggio would be a good candidate for a four-man outfield.
"I think that's a credit to Joey and his preparation," Shelton said.
As it turned out, the extra outfielder didn't make a difference. Biggio bounced out in the first and walked in the third. Don't feel too bad if you missed it. The Pirates will do it again this season, so they got to practice it first.
It was the first time Reynolds was part of a four-man outfield.
"I mean, if that's what the scouting reports say, then we might as well give it a try," Reynolds was telling me about using it going forward.
• You may have noticed that there were an awful lot of regulars in that four man outfield alignment. Sunday's starters were pretty close to what the opening day lineup's will probably look like, with the only notable exceptions being Oliva in right and Tucker at short instead of Kevin Newman.
After a slow start offensively this spring, everyone was clicking Sunday. Reynolds and Polanco walked twice. Polanco would later homer. Bell walked and drove a ball to the opposite field wall for a double. Frazier hit a gapper and had a perfectly placed bunt hit. The Pirates scored seven runs in the first two innings, and there wasn't a cheap one in the bunch.
"It was fun to see our core group of guys have good at-bats," Shelton said. "We a lot of guys take good and aggressive swings. We ran the bases really well. We had a couple of balls go over the fence. I'm happy with how that looked today."
"We're just trying to put together good at-bats right now," Reynolds was telling me. "It's still early and we're trying to get locked in... I think we're doing that better as the spring gets going."
• My goodness, does Oneil Cruz have insane power. Look what he did to poor T.J. Zeuch, who is a former first-round pick and a current major-leaguer:
That pitch was well on the outside part of the plate, and he drove it to center with ease.
"I think he's one of those guys that a lot of people throughout his career are going to stand and watch him take BP," Shelton said. "It was fun to see."
This kid is something special.
• Shelton doesn't know when Chris Archer's spring debut will be, but he said he expects it to be soon and that the right-hander is fine.
"It's just a matter of when [pitching coach] Oscar [Marin] wants to slide him back in," Shelton said.
• Who threw today:
Joe Musgrove: 3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 1 HR
Chris Stratton: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K
Keone Kela: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K
Yacksel Rios: 1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 K, 2 HR
Kyle Crick: 1 IP, 1 H
Luis Escobar: 0 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 HR
Sam Howard: 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K
Nick Burdi: 1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 1 HR
