The opener felt like an inevitability for the Pirates at some point, given the rotation's early inning struggles this season and how the team had been deploying relievers in different ways so far this season.
And while the Pirates would lose to the Brewers at PNC Park Wednesday, 3-1, their first true experiment with an opener since 2019 was an unquestioned success, with Dillon Peters and Bryse Wilson combining for six shutout innings while allowing just two runners on base.
For Wilson, it was a chance to hit the reset button a bit after a rocky start to the season. For Peters, his outing lasted just seven batters -- about as long as a typical 2022 outing for him anyway -- so it was hardly a new role for him. It was just a different way to deploy a pitcher who has made a strong case for being one of the best on the staff early on this season.
"Honestly, externally people get caught up in the starter moniker more than I do," Derek Shelton said before the game. "Dillon Peters has pitched really important innings for us. Today we’re asking him to pitch at the beginning of the game as opposed to the middle."
Last season, Peters was one of a handful of minor-league veterans who made a handful of starts for a pitching hungry team. This year, his stuff is playing up and he's emphasized vertical movement more, thanks in large part to work he did at Tread Athletics, the same facility that Mitch Keller and Wil Crowe worked with this winter.
“It’s not like we’re reinventing the wheel here," Devin Hayes, Peters and Keller's coach at Tread Athletics this winter, told me over the phone. "We’re just finding little things that he can exploit and make outliers.”
Normally pitchers do see a spike in their velocity going to the bullpen, and Peters is throwing harder (92.3 mph average 2022 four-seam velocity) than last year (90.8 mph average 2021 four-seam velocity). He started seeing that extra tick in bullpens this offseason after cleaning up some parts of his mechanics, namely his back leg and making sure he didn't get extended too far.
An extra mph or two can go an even longer way, according to Hayes, because of the perceived velocity, or how the batter sees it coming into the plate.
For a hitter, depending on how Peters extends and moves towards the plate, a low-90s pitch can look nastier than the radar gun would suggest.
“It plays even higher because it’s coming from that lower release height," Hayes explained. "It makes it ride and look like it’s coming at guys at 97 [mph] at that velo, at that approach angle with that vertical break.”
That vertical break is key. Listed at 5'11", Peters comes from a lower arm angle than most pitchers, but the delivery of that angle and its spin allows it to play at all parts of the zone without sacrificing movement. Peters' four-seamer, curve and his recently rediscovered slider all get above-average vertical movement. For the slider, he briefly worked on adopting a sweeper that is almost all horizontal movement -- a trend that has been picking up across the league and something Keller has adopted -- but he felt it had a negative impact on his curveball because they would merge together.
On Wednesday, Peters uncorked a couple curveballs that got 59 inches of vertical break. When you can get nearly five feet of movement, it didn't make sense to jeopardize it. Instead, the slider became another vertical pitch, biting down differently that the curve.
“Instead of having two [pitches] that were inconsistent, I’ve kept the breaking ball and the slider isn’t a sweeper, but it’s made [the breaking ball] better because I don’t have to focus on sweeping it," Peters told me in Chicago last weekend.
When he has those breaking pitches working, it allows his fastball to play up, too, and the whole arsenal complements itself.
"He's not just throwing," catcher Roberto Pérez told me. "He's pitching."
After allowing just one hit and no runs over his first 12 1/3 innings this year, Peters is going to continue to get different looks out of the bullpen, including as an opener. Not that he's too concerned with how he'll be used.
"I’m here to throw the ball and get outs for this team," Peters said. "I’m not worried about personal stats or what I can put up. I want to catch dubs and get this team rolling and put ourselves in great positions."
JUSTIN BERL / GETTY
Andrew McCutchen meets with fans.
• I caught up with that guy in the photo above today. I'm saving what we talked about for a bigger story later on, but I asked afterwards if it felt... off wearing that jersey.
Andrew McCutchen says it didn't. "It's got gold in it."
• Wilson was originally scheduled to start Wednesday before the opener changed the order. He matched Peters pitch for pitch, allowing just one hit with no walks over his four shutout innings, striking out four.
Wilson occasionally bounced between the rotation and bullpen with the Braves, so when he was told he Peters would start, Wilson adopted that old reliever mentality.
"I think just not really thinking and going in and just throwing my best pitches in the zone was the big thing for me and something I can carry over into starting," Wilson said.
The Pirates came into the game having allowed 43 runs in the first two innings, 18 more than the Royals, who had the second most in baseball. Wilson was a contributor to that, allowing seven runs over six innings in his first three starts.
Leaving the game seeing four zeroes can only be a boost.
"It's a huge confidence builder," he said. "First two outing were definitely a battle. Last outing wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, especially controlling the zone. So for me, it's a good step going forward in the confidence area and being able to [think], 'hey, I can fill up the zone and I can go at my hitters with my stuff.' "
• The Pirates could barely muster any offense all night, finishing with just one hit. That hit did put them in an advantageous position in the sixth with runners on the corners and nobody out, and while Ke'Bryan Hayes did tag a ball up the middle, Kolten Wong showed why he has won multiple Gold Gloves with a diving stop and glove flip to shortstop Willy Adames, who turned two:
The dive. The flip! THE TURN!@KoltenWong x @willya02 pic.twitter.com/QPSkfhlVpj
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 28, 2022
"Amazing play," Brewers manager Craig Counsell told reporters after. "Out best play of the year."
"It was a big turning point in the game because if he doesn’t go [make that play], we’re first and third again," Shelton said. "If Willy doesn’t make such a strong throw, we’re at least first and we’re continuing to go after we had just scored.”
• The Brewers got a couple runs in the top of the seventh off Crowe to win it, one of which was charged to a Yoshi Tsutsugo error when a ground ball went under his glove.
"I don't know if he didn't see the second ball that was hit," Shelton said. "... I didn't ask him, but it looked like he didn't react to it."
• Before the game, the Pirates placed Kevin Newman on the 10-day injured list with the left groin injury he suffered in Tuesday's loss the Brewers.
The timetable for a return is three to five weeks.
Bryan Reynolds was activated off the COVID-19 injured list to take his roster spot and started Wednesday.
• In the short term, Diego Castillo should see more reps at shortstop, and Ke'Bryan Hayes could get some time there as well in a limited role.
It's hard to ignore that this could be an opportunity to call up the Pirates' top prospect, Oneil Cruz. Shelton said before the game that "everybody in our system who’s on the roster at the upper levels will be given consideration" to potentially replace Newman, but that a decision hadn't been made.
"There’s been progress," Shelton said about the reports on Cruz. "And there’s still work to be done. We’re focusing on what that work is."
• Some minor-league injury notes: Quinn Priester (oblique) is throwing out to 120 feet again and should throw off a slope sometime in the next 7-10 days. Brennan Malone (lat) is throwing live bullpens, as has Blake Cederlind (Tommy John surgery). In Cederlind's case, it should be about two weeks before he makes his next step to returning to the Pirates.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• COVID injured list: INF/OF Cole Tucker
• 10-day injured list: SS Kevin Newman (groin), RHP Duane Underwood (hamstring), RHP Max Kranick (forearm)
• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Diego Castillo, SS
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
4. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
5. Michael Chavis, 2B
6. Yoshi Tsutusgo, 1B
7. Roberto Pérez, C
8. Jack Suwinski, RF
9. Jake Marisnick, LF
And for Craig Counsell's Crew:
1. Andrew McCutchen, DH
2. Willy Adames, SS
3. Christian Yelich, LF
4. Hunter Renfroe, RF
5. Rowdy Tellez, 1B
6. Tyrone Taylor, CF
7. Omar Narváez, C
8. Mike Brosseau, 3B
9. Kolten Wong, 2B
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will try to salvage the finale at 12:35 p.m. Thursday before welcoming the Padres to town this weekend. José Quintana (0-1, 3.86) will face Freddy Peralta (0-1, 7.50). I've got you covered for that one.
THE CONTENT
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