Just outside PNC Park's home clubhouse, multiple murals on multiple cement walls are committed to the 13 Hall of Famers, 10 retired numbers, seven National League MVPs and other generational gems from the Pittsburgh Baseball Club's 136-year existence. From Honus Wagner to Andrew McCutchen and all the Ralph Kiner, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell honors in between, all who walk through receive a riveting reminder of a franchise history like few others in any professional sport.
Know what's not there, though, at least not in any significant scope?
Yeah, none of those honors ever went to a pitcher.
And as a result, inside the stadium, there's just this one mini-wall:
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Vernon Law and Doug Drabek are celebrated on the Cy Young mural outside PNC Park's home clubhouse.
That's not a slight. That's a reflection of reality that there've been only two Cy Young winners from here in the 67 years it's been awarded: Vernon Law and Doug Drabek. And with all due respect to those men, as well as Babe Adams, Wilbur Cooper, Bob Friend, John Candelaria and one scintillating summer of Oliver Perez, we've all been waiting since 1887 for the first truly great pitcher in this city
Which has nothing, of course, to do with Michael Perez somehow slugging three home runs in the Pirates' 8-7 edging of the Brewers on this thrilling Thursday night at PNC Park ...
... but I'll get there.
See, I'm increasingly getting the sense that, the more things change around here, the more they'll stay the same in the historical context. Meaning that, one of these years, if/when this team contends again, if/when Ben Cherington's system evolves into a success, it'll be built on the bats. The same way it's always been.
For one, even though the current kids are prone to kid-like slumps, they can hit: The five home runs in this game, including back-to-backs by Oneil Cruz and Jack Suwinski in the second inning ...
... raised the team's June total to 44, of which 19 came from rookies. The total was fourth-most in Major League Baseball, which is wild considering the Pirates ranked 25th in April, 20th in May, and Derek Shelton had casually -- and correctly -- repeated through those two months that, "We're not a home run-hitting team." But since then, Cruz, Suwinski, Diego Castillo, Bryan Reynolds and others either came along or came alive, and a new reality's at hand.
For another, it takes a cursory glance to see that the current crop of prospects who haven't yet arrived are predominantly position players: Henry Davis, the future catcher, was a No. 1 overall draft pick, and he's being fast-tracked through the system. Nick Gonzales, the future second baseman, was another first-rounder. There are no sure things in this most fickle of sports, but those two are close. And there are plenty of corner outfield candidates to play next to Reynolds and Suwinski -- Tucupita Marcano, Travis Swaggerty, Cal Mitchell, Canaan Smith-Njigba -- that only one needs to really rise up.
First base is ... eh, we'll see if light-tower-powerful Mason Martin ever stops striking out. But if he doesn't, Michael Chavis might stick, or Cherington can find an outside player at the easiest possible position to find one.
The pitching, by comparison, is ... Roansy Contreras. The only other starter in the rotation who's shown to have even a slice of Contreras' potential is Mitch Keller, and that line's still dotted and seldom straight. The system's had one prospect make an authoritative move this summer in sinkerballer Michael Burrows, but one doesn't cut it. Quinn Priester, yet another first-rounder, hasn't been active enough for anyone to know if he's progressing.
Get the picture?
Good, because I'm additionally getting the sense that the players are, too. Not in any negative way, naturally, but wholly from the positive: They appear to believe they can hit. And they appear to believe their hitting will lead to their winning.
I asked Castillo if the team's energy, its collective confidence might be rooted in its hitting, and he quickly came back, "Oh, 100 percent. We're always ready to compete. You know, we don’t care who’s pitching or who we play against. We just played against Milwaukee, and I think they’re in first place, right?"
They are, I acknowledged.
"Well, once the game starts, we forget about that. We forget about it. We just watch the ball and hit it. Hit it hard."
Marcano, seated at the next stall, silently nodded at everything he was overhearing, then burst out laughing when Castillo added while beaming, "We've got to bring that energy. Every hit is gonna help us have another party in the dugout."
I then asked Suwinski about this:
"Yeah, absolutely," he replied. "I think when the offense is going, we're having quality at-bats, confident at bats ... we see that and we pick up on that and we start talking in the dugout to each other about it. Just picking each other up, having fun, keeping things light and just moving the line along."
I'll reiterate that no one, myself included, was comparing the hitting to the pitching and/or defense when we spoke. Rather, once again, I was seeking out the source of the energy, the confidence. Or whatever that source ultimately will be when the games matter more.
"The jolt" was what Chavis called it when we talked about this, and he added, "Yeah, I think I think it's safe to say it comes from the offense, and I'm not even sure if it's specific to this team. That might be the case with a lot of teams just because, in the dugout, where all the immediate reaction's happening, you have hitters mostly. But it matters, sure. And we've got it."
His eyes then turned toward Keller across the room.
"I was having a conversation with Mitch earlier today just about like how close we are to being a really good ball club. You look at that series with the Rays, a really good team, and we easily could've swept them. And we did sweep the Dodgers. Is it that we can play up to that potential or that they played down? Either way, we're beating teams, we're competing with those teams. I mean, look, it's obvious we have some pieces that we need to fill in, but we're close, man. We're really close."
The man's enthusiasm is unmatched, and it's appreciated. He knows more than I do. But I'm not there yet, not in any overall outlook, and that's because of the starting pitching. I need to see tons more, in quantity and quality, and that's not yet evident, to be kind.
The everyday eight, though, seems halfway home in Reynolds, Hayes, Cruz and no-doubt-about-it-now Suwinski. That's now 13 home runs off a bat that's never spent a solitary day in Class AAA. That's legit. That lasts.
It's encouraging. It's exciting. It's ... energizing, as Castillo affirmed. It might even follow the same formula that contenders from Pittsburgh's past have, meaning the lumber, the lightning and all that.
But it'll still need those pieces that Chavis cited, as well as much more balance from the mound.
JUSTIN BERL / GETTY
Michael Perez watches his third home run clear the Clemente Wall in the eighth inning Thursday night at PNC Park.
• Good for Perez, man. Or 'Mikey,' as his teammates know him. Good defensive catcher. Good dude. Good teammate. And the consummate pro, 29 years old and in his 11th year of being paid to play, reacting to the third home run the same way he did to the first. Which was not at all.
Alex Stumpf has the Perez performance, as well as all related mega-data.
• Good for JT Brubaker, too ... I guess. He did last six innings for his second W, but he was tagged for four runs, seven hits and four leadoff doubles. Lots of other solid contact in there, too.
“That’s always my goal, to go as deep as I can until Shelty takes the ball from me," Brubaker said of the six innings. "My goal's always to keep the team in the game, too, give us a chance to win. I feel like having those two mindsets is a formula for success.”
OK, but he turned a 3-0 lead into a 3-3 tie. Hardly ideal.
• David Bednar's the bigger concern. He'd been shut down for five days to a back issue, he was sent out for the ninth with a four-run lead, and he proceeded to give up three runs on four hits and a walk before Shelton pulled him with two outs and Cutch at second.
I confirmed with Shelton that nothing was amiss with Bednar, with the manager adding he didn't want Bednar going over 30 pitches after a layoff. So that's nice.
But the rest ...
"He just didn’t look sharp," Shelton continued. "He was still missing a little bit to his arm side. He was fine. He felt fine. He was just a little rusty."
• Yerry De Los Santos, the best rookie no one anywhere discusses, got Luis Urías to pop up for the 27th out on a well-executed 95.5 mph two-seamer designed to stay up. De Los Santos' first two big-league saves came in as many days, but it's been building for a while: In 13 appearances, he's got a 0.95 WHIP, 13 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings, and a .174 opponents' batting average.
• Craig Counsell, asked down the hall if the Brewers had viewed Perez as a home run threat, delivered the line of the night: “He hit three home runs, so I guess you could say yes."
• Awful to see Milwaukee's starter, Adrian Houser, exit after 2 1/3 innings with what Counsell called "elbow tightness." Houser, 29, already overcame Tommy John surgery as a prospect in 2016. Spare a kind thought.
• Cutch received the requisite warm ovation with his first trip to the plate, and an even warmer one after doubling to left and then all through the evening as he'd wind up 3 for 4 with a walk out of Milwaukee's cleanup spot. That's awesome. It's eminently deserved, and I hope it never changes.
But how many of those same fans, I couldn't help wonder in those moments, continue to complain about the Cutch trade without even being aware that Reynolds was acquired for him? Half? Maybe more?
What a strange situation, how many people still speak about that trade as if it were some strike against the Pirates. And purely, in this case, out of ignorance. They legit don't know who came from San Francisco.
• The world needs less hot-take radio. That alone would cure about 95% of the most common gross inaccuracies related to this baseball team alone.
• Reynolds is so much more than a productive ballplayer, in that he's ... a ballplayer:
Wish the camera had stayed on him the whole time. Trust me, he sprinted like it was Game 7.
• Is Yu Chang really gone?
• Thanks for reading my baseball stuff.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: OF Ben Gamel (hamstring), 1B Yoshi Tsutsugo (lumbar muscle strain)
• 15-day injured list: RHP Zach Thompson (forearm), LHP Dillon Peters (back)
• 60-day injured list: SS Kevin Newman (groin), OF Jake Marisnick (thumb) OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery), Roberto Pérez (hamstring, out for season)
• COVID injured list: RHP Duane Underwood Jr.
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Bligh Madris, RF
4. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
5. Josh VanMeter, 1B
6. Oneil Cruz, SS
7. Jack Suwinski, LF
8. Michael Perez, C
9. Hoy Park, 2B
And for Counsell's Crew:
1. Christian Yelich, LF
2. Willy Adames, DH
3. Rowdy Tellez, 1B
4. Andrew McCutchen, RF
5. Kolten Wong, 2B
6. Luis Urías, SS
7. Omar Narváez, C
8. Tyrone Taylor, CF
9. Jace Peterson, 3B
THE SCHEDULE
It's Roansy Day, and he'll face Milwaukee ace Corbin Burnes (6-4, 2.41). First pitch 7:05 p.m. Alex will be here.
THE CONTENT
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