Where's it scripted that September ball has to be a spectacular bore?
And meaningless?
Don't get me wrong, there's a whole bunch of bad I'd easily assign to the Pirates beating the Reds, 6-5, on this Tuesday night at PNC Park, not least of which is that the occasion occurs less often than a lunar eclipse. Nine of the first 10 meetings went to Cincinnati by cumulative score of 82-26, and that doesn't come close to painting how lopsided they were.
But baseball's funny, man. It can offer eight-plus innings of meh, then climax with something legitimately memorable.
And yeah, meaningful.
Dillon Peters pitched five scoreless innings, the Pirates scored the evening's first six runs, Nick Mears predictably coughed up four in relief of Peters, and two runs separated two teams that are separated by miles in the standings and everywhere else. And it'd be up the bullpen to make up that ground over the final three innings.
On came Chasen Shreve to put up zeroes in the seventh and eighth. Six up, six down, no less.
"They’re a good offensive club," Derek Shelton observed later, and he spoke from excruciating experience. "So I think the big part of that game was Shreve. To go through two innings with what he did, that picked us up huge and he executed pitches."
He's right, but ... well, it was boring and not all that meaningful to the franchise's future -- Shreve's 31 and headed for free agency this winter -- and I'd really rather keep this column on point, OK?
On came Chris Stratton. And now we're talking.
Because Stratton's entrance marked his first appearance as the Pirates' official/unofficial closer-even-if-we-don't-call-him-that, with David Bednar going to the IL earlier in the day with a right oblique strain that'll almost certainly end the kid's wonderful rookie season. Those two had semi-split ninth-inning duties, but primarily, even if Shelton wouldn't concede this, because he'd turn to Bednar to get the tougher outs in earlier innings.
Not this time. It'd been obvious all night that the only bridge being built was the one to Stratton. And by the time it was his turn, he'd face a top of the Cincinnati lineup that, in order, had no one with fewer than 20 home runs: Jonathan India (20), a pinch-hitter, Nick Castellanos (28), Joey Votto (30) and Eugenio Suarez (26).
So, yeah, it's "good offensive club," even with a grading curve for their Great American Band Box numbers.
After a go-fish slider, Stratton went right at India, carving up the rookie with two pinpoint four-seamers, then getting him to hack over a curve.
The pinch-hitter, the vet slugger Asdrubal Cabrera, dueled Stratton to 11 pitches before flying out far enough that Ben Gamel's back was pressed against the Clemente Wall.
And if that wasn't enough to remind everyone how challenging this was supposed to be, Castellanos promptly clubbed the first pitch he saw into the seats beyond right-center, cutting the lead to 6-5.
"We battled back," the Reds' Mike Moustakas would say. "We were right there."
Sure were. Because that brought up Votto, who, even at age 38, keeps adding to his legacy as one of his generation's premier hitters with a .909 OPS and more than twice as many walks as home runs. Still so patient, so productive, so powerful.
First pitch: Ball one, another go-fish slider, down low. Votto's no fisherman.
Second pitch: Slider, fouled off.
Third pitch: Changeup, way low. Now we're getting into Votto-land. The count's 2-1. He's ahead. He sets the rules. He knows Stratton doesn't want to put the tying run aboard, and he's set to tee off at pitches in the zone.
Fourth pitch: Slider, up in the zone, but very much in the zone. Swing and a miss. No chance, really. Jacob Stallings has loved making these calls all summer, violently altering the hitter's sightline and swing path.
Fifth pitch: Yeah, just watch:
Owwwwwwwwwwww!
Slider to the shoestrings?
An indecisive check-swing, followed by a humbled, knowing spin back toward the visiting dugout?
That, my friends, seldom happens to that man.
"Oh, I know," Gamel responded when I brought that up. "To punch that guy out, to make him look at the way he did, you’re talking about a future Hall of Famer. But you know, I’m as confident as anyone when Strat’s out on the mound. I know he’s gonna do his job, and he’s gonna do it very well for us."
I brought it up with Shelton, too, asking if maybe his alternating Stratton and Bednar in the ninth might've benefited Stratton here.
"I think he benefits a ton," the manager responded. "He went through the heart of a really good lineup right there, and he’s pitched in leverage innings and he’s pitched in high-leverage sevenths and eighths. Now, we’ve moved him into the ninth, and I think tonight is probably the highest-leverage ninth inning he got, because he got multiple guys with 20-plus homers and a lineup that's been really good against righties, and he executed pitches. To get through that and finish that off, that was really impressive."
Sure was. Super-entertaining, too.
As for meaning ... that's not as obvious, but even though Stratton's 31, like Shreve, he's not going anywhere. The team holds his rights for two more full seasons via arbitration, and he'll be eminently affordable, as he's currently making $1.1 million. That's a significant amount of time bought for the back end of the bullpen, between Stratton and Bednar, while the prospect cavalry keeps climbing up the organizational ladder.
Not bad for a mid-September matchup promising precious little of worth, right?
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Jacob Stallings congratulates Chris Stratton on his save Tuesday night at PNC Park.
• That photo above shows Stallings congratulating Stratton on his save, and I'd like to extend my own congrats to Stallings on being the Pirates' nominee for the Clemente Award. Richly deserving. On top of everything else that he is, as a player and person, he's just so authentic. Speak a single time with him, and it feels like he's an old buddy. That's heard everywhere.
• Identical congrats to Votto. He's Cincinnati's nominee for the same award, and he's long been an exemplary figure in the southwestern corner of Ohio.
• Stallings followed up his honor with a couple hits, an RBI single in the first ...
... and an RBI double in the fifth:
"It's been a day," Stallings would say afterward.
Don't laugh at this: I'd love to see Stallings, now 31, kept for the foreseeable future. Meaning kept behind the plate. And I say this fully aware that the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft was a catcher, Henry Davis, but Davis was drafted for his bat and his arm, not for his general defense.
Just tossing it out there.
Neil Walker was a catcher. Drafted for his bat. Then he was a third baseman. Then a second baseman. Then a first baseman.
• Yoshi Tsutsugo doesn't just hit home runs. He doesn't just pull the ball.
He also drops RBI singles into left ...
... then wills the Reds into banking the ball off Bryan Reynolds' helmet on the basepaths for a bonus run, as it played out in the fifth.
Anything to going oppo?
"I'm not really thinking about where I hit it that much, to be honest," Yoshi would say through an interpreter.
He's becoming a big enough deal, by the way, that there's now a small Japanese contingent in the press box here. That hasn't been seen here since the Masumi Kuwata days.
• Life is good when people in Cincinnati are unhappy, right, football fans?
Well, rest assured the Reds are very unhappy.
If it wasn't lousy enough that they lost to an opponent they're used to eating alive, they've now lost 11 of 15, and their record falling to 75-70 on this night dropped them out of the second and final National League wild card spot, as they and the Padres are now a half-game behind the Cardinals.
David Bell, the Reds' manager, took either the broader slump or this one loss seriously enough to have called a team meeting, as he and catcher Tucker Barnhart later confirmed. And as Bell acknowledged, “That's definitely not something that happens after every game. But we believe in this team. We believe it's going to turn around.”
"We're going to come right back the next day and get one," Barnhart said. "We'll put this game behind us."
• Eight of the Reds' final 17 games are against the Pirates, including five more at PNC Park, and those just might decide if Cincinnati makes the playoffs.
Hey, wouldn't be the first time they've dropped the ball here.
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Ben Gamel slides into second base ahead of the tag by the Reds' Jonathan India for a double in the fourth inning.
• Gamel really, really needs to be brought back. I've got nothing new to add here, but it sure feels healthy repeating it.
• Peters was plenty good enough, putting up five zeroes, five hits and five Ks. Shelton pulled him after 80 pitches because, as he'd explain, that was his limit following a recent stint on the IL.
Shelton praises Peters' changeup as "the best we've seen it," and Peters said to that, "It's nice to have in the back pocket, that's for sure. And my changeup plays off my fastball, my fastball plays off my changeup, so it helps keep them a little bit honest. When I’m throwing that curveball and a third freeze pitch up there, I'm probably going to get some early outs. Following Jake and having the plan that we did, we did that."
No idea what to make of this guy. He's 29, so it's not as if he's some long-term project -- beyond being left-handed and, thus, eternally a work in progress -- and he's made five starts since being acquired from the Angels, with a 2.66 ERA, but never once topping five innings.
Whatever, right?
• Wednesday is Roberto Clemente's day, not just here but across Major League Baseball. It's only the Pirates who'll have all their players wearing the No. 21, which ... eh, I'll keep that to myself. It's wonderful that they're paying tribute, and I mean that. I'll leave it there.
• Official attendance -- meaning, again, tickets in circulation and not turnstile count -- was 8,896, but barely a fraction of that was on hand. I shot this in the first inning:
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
First inning, Tuesday night at PNC Park.
Can't. Happen. Again.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Kevin Newman, SS
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
5. Jacob Stallings, C
6. Anthony Alford, LF
7. Ben Gamel, RF
8. Wilmer Difo, 2B
9. Dillon Peters, RHP
And for Bell's Reds:
1. Jonathan India, 2B
2. Kyle Farmer, SS
3. Nick Castellanos, RF
4. Joey Votto, 1B
5. Eugenio Suarez, 3B
6. Aristides Aquino, LF
7. Delino DeShields, CF
8. Tucker Barnhart, C
9. Wade Miley, LHP
THE SYSTEM
• Indianapolis
• Altoona
• Greensboro
• Bradenton
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates have two more against the Reds before embarking for Miami and a 10-game trip. Mitch Keller (4-11, 6.29) will face Vladimir Gutierrez (9-6, 4.05) Wednesday, 6:35 p.m. Jarrod Prugar will have that, I'll be back for the finale Thursday, and Alex Stumpf will be activated from the 10-day IL for the big trip.
THE CONTENT
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