Don't look now, but the Pirates are playing a fun brand of baseball.
Sure, injuries have probably paved the way for players like Jack Suwinski -- who had a three-hit performance in a 3-0 win over the Diamondbacks on this Sunday at PNC Park -- to reach the big leagues sooner than originally planned. And, yes, winning eight of 12 games since that abhorrent 18-4 loss to the Cardinals makes the sun shine a little brighter, even after three gorgeous days this weekend on the North Shore.
But we know this season is not about putting it all together and becoming, dare I say, championship contenders. There will undoubtedly be growing pains throughout the summer. There will be games lost due to the vast inexperience of the roster.
Games like Sunday's win are fun to watch because of how the team played. They were fundamentally sound. They were aggressive on the basepaths. They worked long counts. They pitched.
Two plays really stood out in this win. No, Cal Mitchell's first career home run to break the scoreless tie in the fifth inning isn't one of them, though I'd be remiss to not mention a milestone moment in the 23-year-old's young career. In a two-strike count, Mitchell reached down and yanked a curveball 370 feet over the Clemente Wall:
Sure, Zac Gallen probably wanted that curveball out of the strike zone, but there have been plenty of young hitters who haven't been able to put that swing on that pitch with two strikes.
When I asked Mitchell how well he saw that pitch, he earned a good laugh with four simple words: "I saw it great!"
While Mitchell's home run opened the door for another series win, the two plays that embodied this exciting brand of baseball came in the subsequent innings.
After ripping his second double of the game with one out in the sixth, Suwinski stole third base to put a critical insurance run 90 feet from home. It also put the sacrifice fly in play, which Diego Castillo did with a 102.6-mph laser to right-center field, giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.
Watch this steal though. Derek Shelton confirmed after the game that Suwinski made the call on his own to the the base. He saw Gallen moving slower to the plate on the first two pitches of the at-bat and noticed the middle infielders weren't keeping him close to the bag. He waited for Gallen to make his move toward the plate and got a huge jump:
That's what you call situational awareness. And you don't find many 23-year-olds executing plays normally reserved for a seasoned veteran.
"I think we’ve talked a lot about effort and what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. It’s exemplified there," Shelton said. "Those are all things that we’re looking for. It’s all traits that I think we expect and our fans expect."
The other play that "exemplified" this expectation was Tyler Heineman's leadoff double in the seventh inning. But this was only a double because of one reason: hustle. Once Heineman turned on the jets, he wasn't going to be denied two bases:
Now, shame on David Peralta for handling that ball without any urgency. But we all know -- Heineman included -- that left-center field is not particularly shallow at PNC Park.
"I think he’s done a really good job immersing himself," Shelton said of Heineman. "The offense has definitely been a bonus. And he handles the bat. There are a lot of things you can do with him. He bunts. He can hit-and-run."
And, as we saw on this play, he doesn't run like most catchers.
"No, he does not," Shelton said. "He runs well."
Bottom line: The Pirates likely don't score their second or third runs without Suwinski and Heineman willing themselves forward an extra 90 feet. Teams that do the little things well are typically rewarded. This was absolutely the case on Sunday.
• In addition to Suwinski's three-hit game, Heineman and Mitchell each had two hits apiece, accounting for seven of the Pirates' nine. It's a good thing the bottom of the lineup produced since the top three hitters went a combined 1 for 11 with a walk. The only hit from that group was Ke'Bryan Hayes' bloop RBI single to give Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead.
• Zach Thompson set the tone for a collective shutout by the Pirates pitching staff. Thompson avoided trouble for the most part, getting through five innings with four hits, two walks and four strikeouts on 84 pitches.
After finishing April with a 10.05 ERA, Thompson has bounced back with improved mechanics, which he says has allowed his pitches to play out much better. Shelton said Thompson's curveball was the best they've seen thus far, and it helped open up the rest of his repertoire. That's a comforting feeling for any pitcher.
"Absolutely, knowing I can go out there and have a feel for what I’m doing every day," Thompson said. "Even if something’s not working, I know I have other pitches that I can count on. It’s nice.”
• Shelton had no problem handing the ball to his bullpen after Thompson completed five innings, and they stepped up once again. After Wil Crowe, Anthony Banda and Chris Stratton handled the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, respectively, David Bednar, the National League's Reliever of the Month for May, mowed down the Diamondbacks' 5-6-7 hitters, striking out two, for his 10th save of the season.
• Travis Swaggerty's callup earlier in the day didn't lead to a spot in the starting lineup, but that was due to the fact that he arrived at PNC Park just before game time.
Prior to the game, Shelton addressed why this was the time to promote the club's 2018 first-round pick:
"He's been swinging the bat really well. He's been playing really well overall. Any time we can add a guy when they're playing that well, it's really important. The second thing is we're just excited to have him here. I'm just excited to -- any time you add rookies, it's fun, and we continue to add them, which speaks to the good job we've done in player development that we're continuing to add guys that can help our major league team."
Shelton confirmed that Swaggerty is expected to play in the corner outfield spots the majority of the time, and will man center field when Bryan Reynolds isn't in the lineup.
• Speaking of player development, Rodolfo Castro was the odd man out to make room for Swaggerty on the active roster. After making a critical throwing error and failing to run out a pop up that led to a 3-4-6-4 double play during Saturday's 2-1 win -- Shelton said the demotion is not a direct reaction to Castro's mental error, calling it an "outlier" and said it was "very uncharacteristic" of him. On his radio show on 93.7 The Fan, Ben Cherington doubled down on that stance, saying it was "out of character" for Castro to not run out a popup.
Even so, it was a bad enough moment for Shelton to pull him aside mid-game and tell him a play like that is "not acceptable." Both Castro and the Pirates are turning the page from it and are focused on what needs to happen from here on out.
"It's something we talked about and we moved on from, because that's not Rudy Castro," Shelton said. "Developmentally, there's some things he needs to continue to work on on both sides of the ball. That was the reason that went into it, making sure that those things that we see he needs to work on right now. It's a better situation for him to work on those in Indy than it is here."
Shelton confirmed that Castro will continue to work at second base, third base and shortstop at Class AAA Indianapolis, once again emphasizing the Pirates' desire for versatility.
• After being designated for assignment on May 30, Cole Tucker was claimed by the Diamondbacks Sunday and optioned to Class AAA Reno. Tucker, the Pirates' first-round pick in 2014, was unable to get his career to take off after jumping back and forth between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis over the past four seasons. He finishes his career in Pittsburgh with a .211/.259/.314 slash line and a -2.1 bWAR in 154 major-league games.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: OF Ben Gamel (hamstring), RHP Heath Hembree (calf), OF Jake Marisnick (thumb), 1B Yoshi Tsutsugo (lumbar muscle strain), Josh VanMeter (finger)
• 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. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
4. Michael Chavis,1B
5. Jack Suwinski, LF
6. Diego Castillo, SS
7. Tucupita Marcano, 2B
8. Tyler Heineman, LF
9. Cal Mitchell, RF
And for Torey Lovullo's Diamondbacks:
1. Daulton Varsho, DH
2. Josh Rojas, 3B
3. Ketel Marte, 2B
4. Christian Walker, 1B
5. David Peralta, LF
6. Pavin Smith, RF
7. Alek Thomas, CF
8. Geraldo Perdomo, SS
9. Jose Herrera, C
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates are off Monday, then begin a two-game series against the Tigers at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday at PNC Park. Jose Quintana is scheduled to face lefty Tarik Skubal. Alex Stumpf will cover that one, and DK will have the next.
THE CONTENT
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