'He has to go back:' Hayes' home run taken away after missing first

Perhaps it should have been an omen for how the rest of the night was going to go.

Ke’Bryan Hayes squared up a 3-1 Walker Buehler fastball and drove it down the line in right, just clearing the 21-foot wall. It appeared the Pirates had just taken a quick advantage against the defending champs:

One problem. He missed first base:

"It's one of those things that Key thought he caught the back corner of it, and he didn't," Derek Shelton said. "If he even thinks he misses it, he has to go back and touch it."

The Dodgers challenged and won the appeal, and eventually the game, beating the Pirates, 5-3, at PNC Park Tuesday.

Hayes was not made available for comment after the game.

There are a lot of moving parts going in those fractions of a second as Hayes approaches the bag. A matter of a foot is the difference between a homer, a foul or bouncing off the top of the wall. So Hayes had his eyes towards the play.

So did first base coach Tarrik Brock.

"Tarrik's watching the ball, and obviously Key got caught watching the ball," Shelton said. "By the time he [Hayes] got past him, he missed it."

The run came off the board and Buehler shut the Pirates down through seven innings, though Hayes did give him fits the rest of the night. He finished, officially, 1-for-4, with a base hit and four hard-hit balls, or an exit velocity of over 95 mph. 

"For a lot of people the rest of the game, they mentally would not have been in [the right head] space," Shelton said. "He gets a base hit. He hits two other balls straight on the nose. He goes to the backhand side and makes a really good play. Nothing really affects this kid. I'm pretty sure he's not going to do that again, but I think that's a testament to who he is."

It did come with another baserunning out though, when Hayes tried to move from first to second on a Bryan Reynolds flyout to left. While he appeared to beat the throw, he over slid the bag.

"The tag I thought was a good play," Shelton said. "He slid past the bag. I mean, he was safe on the initial play from [left fielder AJ] Pollock, and he just slid past the bag, and Taylor did a nice job holding the tag."

But the would-be homer is yet another anomalous play at first base for the Pirates. It may not be at the same level as Will Craig's epic blunder, but it did have a notable outcome on another close loss.

"You stay in the game long enough, you see everything," Shelton said.

Even he acknowledges that's not the first time he said that this year.

MORE FROM THE GAME

• The Pirates had eight hard-hit balls against Buehler and only struck out twice over his seven innings, but they couldn't put anything together against him, managing just two hits.

"I thought our approach was good," Shelton said. "We hit the ball hard. We just didn't get balls to fall. We made him work. We hit those balls hard. We just couldn't string 'em together."

Buehler relied primarily on his fastball, especially early, and Pirates hitters went 0-for-9 against it.

"He's got a good, electric fastball," Reynolds said about his old Vanderbilt teammate. "And then he started working in his curveball well, and he started mixing in the cutter late."

Perhaps all that needs to be said that in a rotation that features Cy Young winners Clayton Kershaw and Trevor Bauer, many consider Buehler to be the best of the trio. He showed why Tuesday.

The Pirates' only runs came against the bullpen, with Adam Frazier doubling home a run in the eighth and Reynolds and Michael Pérez each homering in the ninth. Kenley Jansen was brought in for the final out to get the save.

• JT Brubaker made his first start since May 29 after spending some time on the bereavement list and then going through the COVID-19 protocols again to rejoin the team.

After rolling though the first four, albeit with a bit of an elevated pitch count, the Dodgers finally broke through in the fifth. Gregory Polanco misplayed a Gavin Lux single and turned it into a triple, and Pollock followed by barreling a pitch just over Reynolds' outstretched glove.

"I should have caught it without diving, and then it started cutting," Reynolds said.

Even though there was a runner on third and less than two outs, the Pirates did not bring the outfield in to try to get a potential out at the plate.

Reynolds then came up short again on another dive that inning, this time in right-center for a Mookie Betts triple.

Shelton took the ball away from Brubaker there, and after Betts scored, his final line read three earned runs allowed over 4 2/3 innings. He allowed five hits and struck out six.

Shelton said he thought Brubaker was getting tired near the end, which is why he pulled him. The right-hander disagreed.

"Pitches got up a little bit," he said. "I still felt good. Felt strong. Nothing different compared to other outings."

• Before the game, the Pirates activated Mitch Keller off of the COVID-19 injured list, and confirmed he will still make his next scheduled start Thursday. Phillip Evans was also activated off the IL.

To make room, left-hander Austin Davis was optioned to Indianapolis and utilityman Wilmer Difo was designated for assignment.

The departure of Difo is the culmination of several roster points coming together, the most obvious being the Pirates' desire to carry 14 pitchers. But with Evans back and Erik González back in a bench role rather than starting everyday, Shelton now has more versatility and depth at his disposal on his bench. 

That made Difo more expendable, especially since none of the Pirates' bench options -- with the exception of the catcher Pérez -- could be optioned to Indianapolis. Ka'ai Tom is a Rule 5 pick, and González and Ben Gamel are out of options.

Difo does lead the Majors in pinch-hits with eight, but the simple fact is he was brought onto the team after Hayes got hurt and stayed on because other position players went down injuries too. For the first time since the second game of the season, the Pirates' position player core is healthy, and that left Difo as the odd man out.

• Not to linger on Hayes much longer, but two final notes.

The first is that, according to Taylor, it was Dodgers backup catcher Austin Barnes who noticed from the dugout that Hayes didn't touch first.

The second, and weirder, is that Hayes wasn't even the highest rated prospect in baseball who missed a base on a home run tonight. Bobby Witt Jr., Baseball America's No. 8 overall prospect, went deep for the Royals' Class AA team, but was called out for missing home:

Baseball is a funny game, sometimes.

THE ESSENTIALS

Boxscore
Video Highlights
Scoreboard
Standings
Statistics

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

Adam Frazier, 2B
Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
Bryan Reynolds, CF
Colin Moran, 1B
Jacob Stallings, C
Gregory Polanco, RF
Phillip Evans, LF
Kevin Newman, SS
JT Brubaker, P

And for Dave Roberts' Dodgers:

Mookie Betts, RF
Max Muncy, 1B
Justin Turner, 3B
Cody Bellinger, CF
Will Smith, C
Chris Taylor, 2B
Gavin Lux, SS
AJ Pollock, CF
Walker Buehler, P

THE SCHEDULE

Game two of the three-game set will come your way Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. Tyler Anderson (3-5, 4.67) will take on Tony Gonsolin, who is making his first start of the season.

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