Roansy Contreras just didn't have it.
And I'm talking from the very first pitch, a 94.5-mph four-seamer that nearly kneecapped Houston leadoff man Chas McCormick at the knees. Because he'd walk the next batter, hit the one after that, get lucky on a lasered lineout after that, then concede the game's first run on a two-out stroke into left, then thanks for coming to all 10,122 and drive home safely.
It can't be clear whether it weighed all that much into the Pirates' 8-2 loss to the Astros on this Monday night at PNC Park that Contreras lasted only 3 1/3 innings seven earned runs, nine hits, four walks, that hit batter, three Ks and only 44 strikes among his 83 pitches, given that his counterpart was fabulous lefty Framber Valdez, the American League's ERA leader over the past four seasons ... but man, it couldn't have helped.
It doesn't take a modern-day Leo Mazzone to discern what went wrong, beyond the "fastball command" Contreras himself cited, though I asked the kid, anyway:
"It’s hard to say exactly what happened," came the reply via major-league coach Stephen Morales' interpretation. "But it’s just a bad outing overall. It’s part of the game."
Mm-hm. Pitchers just can't always put it where they want:
BASEBALL SAVANT
That's Spray City up there. And that's to say nothing of those dangling sliders atop the data tree.
Only to be thorough, I asked Derek Shelton if there were any concerns other than the command, including an unusual spring as related to the World Baseball Classic, and he shook it off.
“The velocity was fine,” Shelton would say. “He didn't execute pitches. When you don't execute pitches against this club, you're gonna get damage."
Whatever. He was fine in Boston in the season debut, limiting the Red Sox to a run, three hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings. It happens.
