Shelton defends decision to pull Wilson before complete game

Derek Shelton has pulled the move a couple times this season. He will go out to the pitcher's mound with two outs not to immediately pull his starter, but to have a conversation with them about how they were feeling and how they want to attack the batter. If he likes what he hears, he heads back to the dugout without ever pointing to the bullpen.

He did it in the eighth inning Wednesday at PNC Park, having a chat with Bryse Wilson, who was amidst the best pitched game of his major-league career. With two away on two, the chat seemed briefer than most, and Shelton headed back to the dugout without much opposition. Two pitches later, TJ Friedl popped up to Oneil Cruz to end the inning.

It was Wilson's 90th pitch of the game and he had allowed just four base runners all game, but with his first complete game in sight, Shelton pulled the plug.

"It was shut down pretty quickly," Wilson said about his attempt to lobby for the ninth.

That decision backfired. Shelton went to Chase De Jong, who immediately allowed a pair of home runs to tie the game at three, including this Jake Fraley shot:

The Pirates would go on to win in the 10th, 4-3, on a Kevin Newman walk-off single, but it was a lot closer than it probably should have been.

So if Wilson was dealing, why did Shelton pull him when he did?

"I think there's a couple reasons," Shelton explained. "No. 1, he hadn't been up that many times. No. 2, we felt he was at the end of his rope. I went out and talked to him in the eighth and he kind of emptied it there. So 3-0 lead, he had done his job and Chase has been really good for us all year. I mean, it's kind of hard to fault a guy that's probably been our most consistent performer out of the bullpen."

"In hindsight you can second-guess everything," Shelton followed if he regretted the decision. "But no, in terms of why we made the decision and the thought process was, we're going to stick to our process. I'm more excited that Bryse threw the ball as well as he did for eight innings and was able to execute pitches. That was the thing that I'll take away from his outing."

De Jong has been a solid performer out of the Pirates' bullpen this year, though he has had some hiccups when given leverage opportunities late in games.

But Wilson disagreed that he was gassed.

“Going into the sixth, seventh and even eighth inning, with the pitch count that I had, the body still felt good," Wilson said. "There was no exhaustion or tiredness at all."

Wilson's objections aside, it's been made clear for years that Shelton errs on the side of caution with starting pitcher usage. Wilson is just the third starter to go eight innings in an outing in his time as manager, the others being a Steven Brault complete game in 2020 and Tyler Anderson recording eight frames on May 9, 2021. Entering Wednesday, the only other team to not have a starter go eight innings at least once this year was the Tigers.

So I had one follow up for Shelton. How much does the individual accomplishment of a complete game factor in weighing whether they should finish the game?

"That definitely is a factor of it, but the major factor is putting us in the best position to win and putting him in the best position. I thought at that time it was best to go to Chase."

JUSTIN BERL / GETTY

Bryse Wilson.

• So what was working for Wilson? It was his newest pitch: The splitter.

When the Blue Jays came to town earlier this month, Wilson talked to his former Braves teammate Kevin Gausman about his splitter. Since then, he's replaced his changeup with the new offering, throwing it almost like a forkball by sticking it between his ring and middle finger and throwing it as hard as he can.

The results speak for themselves, as he's averaging about three inches more drop, less cut and got five whiffs with it, while Reds hitters went just 1-for-7 against the pitch Wednesday.

"That's gonna be a really good pitch for me going forward," Wilson said. "The biggest thing with the split, and I think part of what makes it so effective, is it's not like a huge feel or manipulation pitch. It’s kind of a ‘grip it and throw it,’ pitch, exactly like a fastball. That’s a lot of what makes it really effective."

• Fortunately for Shelton, Newman was able to bail his manager out.

After Ke'Bryan Hayes and Jack Suwinski failed to even advance the automatic runner at second, Newman flared a 2-2 Alexis Diaz slider just over second baseman Alejo Lopez's head for the game-winning knock.

That's Newman's seventh career walk-off, though it had been over two years since he beat out a fielder's choice to end it on Sept. 8, 2020.

"It’s always special anytime to come through," Newman said. "For my teammates, for the crowd, the organization just to end the game on a walk-off is awesome."

That's all amplified when it means they don't waste a performance like Wilson's.

"It’s unfortunate the way it went down, but obviously, that’s baseball," Newman said. "For us to come back up there and get guys on and then get a knock and get the win is huge for us."

• That also extends Newman's hitting streak to 10 games. That's the longest since his rookie season, when he had streaks of 19, 13 and 11.

• Another game, another RBI double for Miguel Andújar. He picked up his RBI in the first, and Cruz collected two more in the second on a bases loaded double off the Clemente wall.

• That's seven straight wins against the Reds. The Pirates take the season series, 12 games to 7. This could have implications beyond this season, as the Reds now lead the Pirates by just one game for fourth place in the National League Central, and the Pirates have the tiebreaker. The team who finishes in last place in the division will most likely be the club who gets the final prime spot in the draft lottery next year, giving them the maximum 16.5% chance at the first overall pick. The worst three teams each get the same odds. The fourth-worst team has a 13.25% chance.

• With the win -- and a second straight sweep of the Reds -- the Pirates are now 59-97 on the season. They need to go at least 4-2 down the stretch in order to avoid a second straight 100-loss season.

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THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 7-day concussion list: C Tyler Heineman

• 15-day injured list: RHP JT Brubaker (right arm inflammation), LHP Eric Stout (low back discomfort)

• 60-day injured list: Yerry De Los Santos (lat), OF Canaan Smith-Njigba (wrist), RHP Colin Holderman (right shoulder), RHP Blake Cederlind (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Oneil Cruz, SS
2. Bryan Reynolds, DH
5. Miguel Andújar, LF
4. Ben Gamel, 1B
5. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
6. Cal Mitchell, RF
7. Kevin Newman, SS
8. José Godoy, C
9. Ji Hwan Bae, 2B

And for David Bell's Reds:

1. TJ Friedl, LF
2. Spencer Steer, 3B
3. Kyle Farmer, DH
4. Jake Fraley, RF
5. Stuart Fairchild, CF
6. Alejo Lopez, 2B
7. Matt Reynolds, 1B
8. Jose Barrero, SS
9. Chuckie Robinson, C

THE SCHEDULE

Nothing but the Cardinals the rest of the way. The Pirates will make their last road trip of the season to St. Louis for a three-game set starting Friday. Johan Oviedo (4-2, 3.13) will make his first start against his former team. First pitch will be at 8:15 p.m. Eastern. I've got you covered the rest of the way.

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