The Pirates' offense is sizzling right now. Two long balls were enough for the 4-3 victory over the Reds Thursday night at PNC Park, but a key reason for the 13-7 start to the season has been the starting pitching.
Roansy Contreras extended the team's astounding streak of consecutive quality starts to a perfect 10, turning in 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and making it look quite easy in the process by heavily relying on his slider to keep Cincinnati's bats quiet.
"I feel pretty comfortable with the slider right now as my second pitch," Contreras said after the game. "That’s given me the confidence to throw it anytime in any count. ... I trust my slider this year more than last year."
But, how exactly does a rotation turn in that many quality starts in a row? That kind of stuff just doesn't happen very often, especially in today's game in which starting pitchers aren't going deep into games on a regular basis anymore. Ten straight quality starts hasn't happened for the Pirates since June 7-19 in 2015 when the staff posted 12 in a row -- and that team won 98 games.
Obviously, starting pitchers have to do their job. And over these 10 starts, the staff has combined for a 2.34 ERA and 1.20 WHIP over 61 2/3 innings. But there have to be plays like one Ke'Bryan Hayes made Thursday night to preserve some of these starts:
After rolling through six shutout innings, Contreras' seventh inning started off with a single and a walk which immediately put the Pirates' 4-0 lead in danger. Then Contreras got Wil Myers to hit the ground ball he needed to try and get two outs, but it took an extraordinary effort from Hayes, Ji Hwan Bae to turn the play and Carlos Santana to pick the turn and get that all important second out.
"That's why he's one of the best defenders on the planet," Shelton said. "There's probably two guys in baseball that make that play. And then, Bae makes a good job and then Santana made a heck of a pick on the backside of it. So overall, it was a good baseball play and play that saved the game. But, that's why Ke'Bryan Hayes is one of the best."
In order for the Pirates' rebuild to work, these arms will have to succeed in the big leagues. But, they don't have to do it alone. After all, baseball is still a team game. And, when a young pitcher is dealing and he's got the best third baseman in baseball behind him, good things should happen more often than not.
But, this play was on another level -- even for Hayes.
"I kinda just blacked out. Athleticism kind of took over," Hayes said. "I actually watched it back. I didn’t really realize what I did. I thought I did something completely different. ... That was a play that I’ve kind of never made before, so it felt a little weird. That’s why I had to go back and look at it."
Hayes wasn't the only one. There's no doubt about that. And, it helped preserve an impressive streak and the Pirates' fourth straight victory.
