Generally speaking, when one guy concedes five runs and the rest rally to score seven, that first guy isn't going to the focus of much attention.
Thing is, Roansy Contreras isn't just any guy in the Pirates' broader picture, still considered among their most promising young pitchers, still a significant piece of the franchise's future. And as such, even amid all the fun of that 7-5 flipping of the Cardinals on this Friday night at PNC Park, it might've mattered almost as much that Contreras ... well, he looked a lot more like himself than he had in quite some time.
No, not the line. That was still lousy: Four innings, five runs, seven hits.
But I thought I'd seen more to like than dislike with the naked eye, and that'd be borne out.
How about, for example, that first inning?
Fourteen pitches, nine strikes, three batters and, for good measure, an instant nod from the Ninja:
Roansy Contreras, K'ing the Side. pic.twitter.com/zucgqINKkL
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 2, 2023
The next inning was more of the same. Fastball was sitting at 96-97 mph. Slider had shape and came with command.
By the third, the St. Louis lineup appeared much more comfortable with a starter leaning on a two-pitch mix and began making contact, including this two-run shot by Brendan Donovan off a 1-2 slider:
OK, but watch it again, this time on the K-zone box and Austin Hedges' big mitt. That pitch went precisely where both ends of the battery wanted it, and Donovan still somehow went down and got it.
"The pitch was where I wanted," Contreras would tell me afterward. "He made a good swing."
It's the Jack Suwinski uppercut swing, as I shared with Contreras, to which he'd exclaim, "Yes!" while glancing toward Suwinski's locker.
Same inning, this occurs:
It wasn't a routine pop foul, but the play could've/should've been made by Josh Palacios before he took the tumble over the railing.
Long story short, since all of this took place after two outs and nobody aboard, Nolan Arenado would extend his arms for a two-run shot of his own to make it 5-0:
Derrick Goold, my friend at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who's covered the Cardinals forever, told me he'd never seen Arenado home even an inch to the right of center field until that. And to the pitch, I mean, watch this one again, too. It's up a bit, sure. But that's a 2-2 fastball away. Borderline waste pitch to see if the batter will fish. Only Arenado's fishing expedition netted a footlong bass.
"I don't know how he hit that," Contreras would tell me.
Me neither, but especially given Arenado's hit chart.
Look, I'm not making excuses for Contreras. This was different, front to finish. And coming off a weird week in which he was relegated to the bullpen, but then had that undone because of Vince Velasquez boomeranging back to the IL, all concerned had every right, I'd say, to see this as a positive.
"I mean, he gave up five and he gave up all of them after two outs, nobody on. Just left a couple balls up," Derek Shelton began after I'd sought his assessment. "Just left a couple balls up. I was proud of the way he bounced back. He was only going to throw 85 pitches either way, wherever he was at tonight, so I was happy with the way he bounced back."
Contreras was, as well, and unmistakably so.
"I battled with two outs. I didn't make all the pitches I wanted," he'd say. "Next time, I'll be better, for sure."
