Roansy Contreras' final pitch Wednesday night was a spiked curveball. Enrique Hernandez chased, catcher Jason Delay blocked it and the 22-year-old right-hander walked off the mound at PNC Park.
The last two words of that sentence were the most important. After a planned midseason shutdown to manage innings and a build up with Class AAA Indianapolis, Contreras returned to the majors Wednesday, giving the Pirates' rotation not only a fifth member, but one of its most promising young arms again.
It was ultimately a mixed bag, showing occasionally spotty control and an inconsistent fastball while allowing four runs, but he was still able to match a career-best six innings and seemed to get stronger as the game went on in an 8-3 Pirates loss to the Red Sox.
Contreras' first stints with the Pirates had yielded some good things. At the time of his demotion July 7, he had recorded a 3.78 ERA with good strikeout and whiff rates, all of which are good indicators for a young pitcher. However, after throwing just 75 competitive innings between the minors, his major-league cameo and the Arizona Fall League last year, the Pirates wanted to be mindful that they didn't overwork him, especially since he had a forearm injury last season.
The shutdown happened after a six-inning victory against the Reds on July 7. He was optioned to Indianapolis and placed on the taxi squad rather than being placed on the injured list, meaning he did not accrue any service time for over a month. When he started to build back up to be a starter, the Pirates opted to do it in the minors while often going with bullpen games where starter/opener Tyler Beede would pitch as long as Contreras was in the minors.
The organization's viewpoint was that Contreras' development could continue in the minors, and they laid out areas where they wanted to see growth from him. I asked where he thought he had grown since we last saw him in the majors. His answer in full, via interpreter Mike Gonzalez:
"Throughout this experience and the moves and my time in the minor leagues, and also my experience pitching up here, the biggest thing I’ve learned is that there’s always going to be moves and decisions that you may not understand or that just kind of throw you off, but [it’s important to] to remain focused on the mission. Continue working, remind yourself daily why you’re here, why you’re doing this and just continue working hard and giving the best you have. That’s what I have control over. That’s what I can provide, just the best that I have and everything else, just take it as a learning experience."
Contreras would say shortly after that his mechanics were the main focus while he was in the minors, as well as working on all of his pitches. It's more than what the Pirates officially offered, as they publicly do not discuss individual players' development points.
"There’s not an over-arching thing that we said, ‘Hey, we want you to do this when you’re down there,’ " Derek Shelton said before the game on what he wanted to see from Contreras. "It’s just continue to refine and continue to attack the zone. We said when we sent him out that he was gonna be back. We just needed to build him back up and give him a little bit of a blow. We felt like we’ve built him back up to the point where he’s ready to pitch in the big leagues again."
A hodgepodge of starts in the minors instead of the majors seemed to have left Contreras at least a little perplexed, even if he's rolling with the punches.
"A lot of those things are outside of my control," Contreras said. "Those are things that are just part of the process and things that I use as a reminder to just continue battling because I know I have a mission. I know I have a goal."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• As for how he actually pitched, Contreras walked four and allowed six hits over his six frames, striking out three. While his fastball was at the same velocity it was at pre-shutdown, his command wasn't as sharp, and he had to rely on the slider to navigate through the Red Sox lineup.
He was able to do that for every frame but the second, where the Red Sox would strike for three runs while sending nine men to the plate. While he did allow some hard contact in the following innings, he stayed off the barrel and was able to keep it in the park.
"His fastball wasn't what it was, but it was encouraging he could go through a lineup like that with essentially one pitch," Shelton said.
"Something I always take away from innings like that is no matter how that inning may go, whether it’s a positive or a negative, you just have to continue finding ways to battle and not let those things discourage you, remain focused, stay true to the plan and just trust the process," Contreras said. "Continue to battle."
• One thing Contreras is going to have to do better over these final starts and moving forward: Command the inner-third of the plate to right-handers. His pitches move so he's always going to have action to his glove side, but he's going to have to be able to jam right-handers as well so they don't cheat and protect the outer-half of the plate. Here's where his pitches against right-handed hitters were located:
• Kevin Newman and Bryan Reynolds kicked off the Pirates' offensive output with a bloop and a blast in the first.
The lineup would follow with a 1-for-26 stretch with no walks and eight strikeouts before stringing together a few garbage time hits.
"It's swinging at the right pitches," Shelton said about how the offense could prevent a prolonged cold spell like that. "I think we kind of got out of our zone throughout the game and we let the Boston pitchers dictate what we were going to swing at instead of staying in our hitting zones."
Looking at the pitch chart of where Pirates right-handed hitters swung on the night, the Red Sox were able to go inside and work effectively, starting with 42-year-old southpaw Rich Hill:
"The one thing that really stands out is the different arm angles," Shelton said of Hill. "The ability to change his delivery and create weapons in other ways because of it."
• Eric Stout and Yohan Ramirez went a combined 1 2/3 innings to close the game, allowing three runs (and one inherited runner from Duane Underwood Jr. to score) on five hits and three walks.
• Roster moves of the day: Right-hander Austin Brice was designated for assignment to add Contreras. Additionally, Tyler Heineman (groin) was activated off the injured list, and José Godoy was optioned to Class AAA Indinapaolis. The 40 man roster is currently at 39 players.
• Also before the game, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided updates on several Pirates and prospects who are on the injured list.
Mitch Keller played catch Wednesday is doing well after being removed after just two innings Tuesday with left shoulder fatigue. Ke'Bryan Hayes (back) was cleared to do advanced upper-level plyometric activities. It sounds like he will be on the injured list close to the minimum amount of 10 days.
David Bednar (back) and Dillon Peters (elbow) are both doing plyo ball work and should start throwing soon.
Henry Davis (wrist) is cleared for all baseball activities. We should see him and Matt Gorski (quadriceps) in games before the end of the year. We should also see Ji-hwan Bae (oblique) back in games soon, either as a DH with Indianapolis or on a rehab assignment.
Prospect Brennan Malone (shoulder) had surgery Tuesday from Dr. Neal ElAttrache to repair damage to the labral tissue. Canaan Smith-Njigba (wrist) will get new imaging done in the next 5-7 days, but there probably isn't enough time to get him back in time for the end of the regular season. Fall or winter ball could be on the table for him.
• Shelton on Dennis' Eckersley's critical comments about the Pirates during Tuesday's Red Sox television broadcast: "My reaction is he’s a broadcaster who works for another network. My concern is in our clubhouse and what our process is, and we’ll continue to concern ourselves with our group. That’s kind of my feelings on it."
• With the loss, the Pirates are now 45-72 on the season and 6-18 since the All-Star break. Their .385 winning percentage on the year puts them on pace for a 62-100 final record. They will need to go 18-27 down the stretch to avoid their second consecutive 100-loss season.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (strained mid-back muscle)
• 15-day injured list: RHP David Bednar (low back), LHP Dillon Peters (left elbow inflammation)
• 60-day injured list: RHP Yerry De Los Santos (lat), OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), RHP Blake Cederlind (elbow), RHP Nick Mears (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Kevin Newman, SS
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Michael Chavis, 1B
4. Ben Gamel, RF
5. Kevin Padlo, 3B
6. Rodolfo Castro, 2B
7. Greg Allen, LF
8. Bligh Madris, DH
9. Jason Delay, C
And for Alex Cora's Red Sox:
1. Tommy Pham, LF
2. Rafael Devers, 3B
3. Xander Bogarts, SS
4. Alex Verdugo, RF
5. J.D. Martinez, DH
6. Eric Hosmer, 1B
7. Christian Arroyo, 2B
8. Reese McGuire, C
9. Enrique Hernandez, CF
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will try to salvage at least one game from this series Thursday. JT Brubaker (2-10, 4.45) will try to right the ship again Nathan Eovaldi (5-3, 4.15). First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. I'll have you covered.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
