'OK, now watch what I can do:' After winter snub, Mitchell a hit in debut

The ball is going on the dashboard of Cal Mitchell's car. Or somewhere like that, at least.

"It's going to be somewhere I can see it for a little while, that's for sure," Mitchell said.

That ball, his first hit and RBI in the majors, is going to be a special one and a fine souvenir from his first big-league game Tuesday, though it came in a losing effort as the Pirates fell to the Rockies, 2-1, in 10 innings.

With only three outfielders on the major-league roster and a couple roster spots opening up because of injury, Mitchell, 23, got the call up to the majors Tuesday.

"I knew I was doing well and there was going to be some opportunity to come up at some point during the year," Mitchell said before the game. "I’m glad it’s now.”

It's a reversal of fortunes. Not too long ago, it looked like Mitchell's future with the Pirates did not look bright.

After a so-so season at the plate for Class AA Altoona, the Pirates opted to purchase the contracts of three other prospect outfielders: Travis Swaggerty, Canaan Smith-Njigba and Jack Suwinski. While that did not close the door on him reaching the majors with the Pirates, it did make his journey more difficult.

When the major-league portion of the Rule 5 draft was cancelled due to the lockout, Mitchell got another chance to prove himself in the Pirates' farm system. He did just that with Class AAA Indianapolis, slashing .306/.362/.500 with five home runs, 26 RBIs and going a perfect six-for-six in stolen base attempts.

You'd be hard-pressed to call it a second chance, but perhaps a second wind.

“I feel good," Mitchell said. "I’m still pretty young, I’m 23. The end goal didn’t change because I had that one speed bump.”

That speed bump of being passed up turned out to be another log on the fire. Mitchell wouldn't call it a chip on his shoulder, but rather, "a sense of, 'ok, now watch what I can do' "

Enjoying his best offensive season, Mitchell is setting himself up better for his swing, helping him be more consistent at the plate.

"Sometimes I was a little bit tough early in my career, just being a kid," Mitchell said. "I would get out of position and it made it a little harder to see the ball. I found a good spot to be in where I’m comfy in the box and I can get there every time.”

And hey, he looked pretty comfortable at the dish on this fifth inning bloop:

Mix in his first at-bat -- an eight-pitch battle that he hit over 100 mph and to the warning track -- and a nice grab at the wall in right, and those nerves he admitted he felt early on were masked pretty well.

"He's kind of epitomizes everything we talk about," Derek Shelton said. "We talk about [Ben] Gamel a lot. Backing up bases, doing the little things, just being the complete outfielder. Cal does all these things. Very deserving. Anytime you have a situation where you have a guy not on his roster and you add him to your roster, it's shown you he's done all the things we challenged him on and deserves to get that opportunity in the big leagues." 

Mitchell has been brought up in what's been a noticeable youth movement, joining pitchers Roansy Contreras and Yerry De Los Santos as part of this week's promotions. There's no schedule yet for the next batch of call ups, but they will be coming eventually.

“It’s cool," Mitchell said. "We got a lot of good ballplayers coming through."

PIRATES

Ben Gamel and Bryan Reynolds take part in a moment of silence for the lives lost in the Robb Elementary School attack Tuesday.

• Ro day was worth the wait.

Making his first start of the season with the Pirates, Contreras struck out five and allowed just five base runners over five shutout innings.

This strikeout of CJ Cron was about as filthy as he got:

A 30 pitch fourth inning cut his outing short, but he returned in the fifth with a clean 1-2-3 frame, striking out two.

"Towards the end of my outing I was able to feel a lot more comfortable with my pitches," Contreras said through interpreter Mike Gonzalez. "In the first two innings, there was some things I just needed to adjust and it was more battling it out and fighting out there. But I was able to find myself and get my groove and I was able to finish strong."

Contreras threw 84 pitches on the night, but those five innings could have been more.

"We know his stuff’s good," Shelton said. "We know he has the ability to execute. We’ve just got to make sure those 0-2, 1-2 counts don’t end up going to 3-2 because it extends the pitch count."

• Rodolfo Castro cost the Pirates, and saved, a run in the field. In the second, he made this terrific read on a Ryan McMahon liner, robbing him of a hit:

But in the eighth, he booted a ball to leadoff the inning, resulting in a run off Chris Stratton later in the inning.

In the 10th, the Rockies got the automatic runner from second home off a weakly hit single by Connor Joe off David Bednar, their only additional base runner of the inning.

• Is there anything new that can be said about the offense right now?

They were limited to just five hits, one extra-base hit (a Diego Castillo fifth inning double) and went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, one of those hits being a Josh VanMeter infield single that didn't plate a run.

The Pirates have scored just 23 runs over their last 12 games. 

“I mean, I wish I had a better answer for you than I do – and I don’t," Shelton said on why the offense is struggling. "We’ve got to figure it out because we pitched our ass off tonight and we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win because we are not creating any offense. We have to figure it out. We have to figure out how to have better, more consistent at bats because right now we’re not doing that.

• Before the game, Daniel Vogelbach was placed on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring injury, and Heath Hembree was placed on the 15-day injured list with a calf injury, retroactive to May 21. To open up a spot on the 40 man roster for Mitchell, lefty Cam Alldred was designated for assignment.

“Unfortunately when you only have 40 spots and you have to start adding people, like we had to add Cal today, there is a casualty," Shelton said. "Unfortunately, today it was Cam.” 

• The Pirates are starting to play the kids. Read what Ben Cherington had to say this afternoon here.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: RHP Heath Hembree (calf), OF Jake Marisnick (thumb), Daniel Vogelbach (hamstring)

• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery), Kevin Newman (groin), Roberto Pérez (hamstring, out for season)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Michael Chavis, 1B
4. Ben Gamel, LF
5. Rodolfo Castro, SS
6. Yoshi Tsutsugo, DH
7. Diego Castillo, 2B
8. Cal Mitchell, RF
9. Michael Perez, C

And for Bud Black's Rockies:

1. Connor Joe, DH
2. Charlie Blackmon, RF
3. C.J. Cron, 1B
4. Ryan McMadhon, 3B
5. Brendan Rodgers, 2B
6. Randal Grichuk, CF
7. Jose Iglesias, SS
8. Sam Hilliard, LF
9. Elias Diaz, C

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates and Rockies will play the rubber match Wednesday at 12:35 p.m. Zach Thompson (2-4, 4.88) will try to stay in the groove he's in against Ryan Feltner (0-1, 7.20). DK will have you covered from the ballpark while I prepare for the upcoming west coast road trip.

THE CONTENT

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