The rain came on suddenly. The tarp at PNC Park Saturday was brought out just as suddenly, a precaution in case there was about to be a downpour. It was still a sudden call from the grounds crew, so much so that the Pirates' relievers rode out the 60-minute delay in the bullpen.
An hour delay was long enough to shut Luis Ortiz down for the rest of the night. The Pirates don't want to risk anything with their 24-year-old top pitching prospect, so they opted to just call it an afternoon with him. If the Pirates were going to win, it was going to have to be because of the guys under the awning in the back bullpen.
"We've got to be ready today," Dauri Moreta said the message in the bullpen was.
The bullpen certainly rose to the challenge, as the unit combined for seven innings of two-run ball, with a Colin Holderman home run in the eighth being the only blemish. Without a traditional bulk guy in that bullpen, every reliever besides Rob Zastryzny would end up pitching, and the Pirates would end up hanging on to beat the Cardinals, 4-3.
"You run through the script of a game and all of a sudden you lose your starter after two," Derek Shelton said. "You have to just try to pick the matchups, and I think we did a really good job with that today."
Angel Perdomo, a hard throwing lefty who was called up that morning, retired all seven batters he faced in his Pittsburgh debut, striking out three. Those quick innings gave him the opportunity for that third trip to the mound, making life a little easier for Yerry De Los Santos, who was also fresh from Indianapolis that morning.
Tied 1-1 in the sixth, Moreta entered with runners on first and second and one out. After getting Nolan Arenado to fly out, he won a 10-pitch battle with Willson Contreras with a slider with late dive:
It had been a while since Moreta had a quality strut like that exiting the mound. The Cardinals couldn't do anything against him in the seventh either in another scoreless frame.
"One of my best outings I think so far," Moreta said, beaming. That's saying a lot from someone who didn't allow an earned run and just three hits in the month of May.
Holderman was bailed out by Yohan Ramirez after allowing a two-run home run, and David Bednar picked up his 12th save of the season in the ninth to close it. The mixing and matching worked again, and the bullpen has allowed just those two Holderman runs over 19 2/3 innings over the team's four-game winning streak.
"Everyone has different strengths," Jason Delay was telling me about the bullpen. "That's why we're able to call on certain guys and trust that they're going to execute the strengths."
Perdomo, for example, can get run on his pitches. Bednar is going to come in with high four-seamers and a curveball and splitter that can bite. Moreta is a slider machine, addressing his inconsistent fastball from a year ago by leaning on two different types of sliders, one that bites down and one that gets run. Having those allowed him to make one of the most drastic changes in pitch usage in the game this season:
Really, with the exception of Holderman and Ramirez, the Pirates don't have two relievers who attack hitters the same way in Delay's eyes. (And he said that only with the caveat that Holderman's cutter still makes him unique). It's something the Pirates have spent years trying to build: A bullpen that can attack hitters with multiple looks.
The result is a group that is second in the National League in ERA (3.59) and win probability added (3.37).
"That's been the story of this year, we stick to our strengths," Delay said. "I know people talk about, 'Oh, we throw a million sliders, more sliders than anyone else,' but it's working. That's what our pitcher's strengths are, what we're going with in a leverage situation. We're not going to get beat with our second-best pitch."
Strength can be pitches or scenarios. Moreta, for example, has been one of the best firemen in the game. He has now stranded 19 of his 20 inherited runners, the best percentage of any reliever in the game (95%) and tied with Andrew Nardi of the Marlins for the most stranded runners this season.
"I try to be more focused, more confident in me [in those situations]," Moreta said. "It doesn't matter what situation they put me in. I want to just help this team to win."
After the game, Connor Joe said during an on-field interview that the Pirates had recently gotten back to Pirates baseball. When asked about that postgame, Shelton pointed out several examples, including Mark Mathias running out a ground ball to Arenado that the perennial Gold Glover flubbed. Bryan Reynolds would later work a long at-bat and not chase, being content to draw a walk in a tie game. That set Joe up for a two-run double to break the tie and Carlos Santana to bloop him home for the eventual winning run. Creating and taking advantage of opportunities was a big reason why the Pirates were successful in April.
But the first thing Shelton mentioned when talking about Pirates baseball was the bullpen. They were great in April. They have been great again as of late. It's why this team is 25-2 when leading after six innings and 25-4 when the offense scores at least four runs.
"I don't think you can say enough about our bullpen," Shelton said. "Losing the starter because of the rain delay and they just continue to push through. The two guys we brought up today, Perdomo was outstanding, kept us in the game. 2 1/3. He hadn't had three ups in Indy and was able to come in and get Burleson out in that third inning. They just continued to go. They just fed off each other."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 15-day injured list: RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)
• 60-day injured list: 1B Ji-Man Choi (Achilles), RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Andrew McCutchen, DH
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Connor Joe, LF
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Rodolfo Castro, 2B
6. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
7. Tucupita Marcano, SS
8. Mark Mathias, RF
9. Jason Delay, C
And for Oli Marmol's Cardinals:
1. Brendan Donovan, LF
2. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
3. Nolan Gorman, 2B
4. Nolan Arenado, 3B
5. Willson Contreras, C
6. Alec Burleson, DH
7. Paul DeJong, SS
8. Jordan Walker, RF
9. Tommy Edman, CF
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will go for the sweep Sunday in an early 11:35 a.m. game. Rich Hill (4-5, 4.76) will take the bump against Miles Mikolas (4-1, 3.75). I'll have you covered.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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