Kovacevic: Priester just might be taking some of those little/big strides

MILWAUKEE -- "This game, man," Henry Davis was telling me late Friday night. " ... you don’t get to breathe."

Hm. He'd know better than me, of course. But I wonder.

Because all around American Family Field's visiting clubhouse, the figurative heart of the House of Horrors, I heard breathing. Heck, I heard victory music, and this was from a sound system I couldn't have known existed within this accursed space.

Pirates 8, Brewers 4.

There were even smiles. I swear, with one of those belonging to Alfonso Rivas. He's the new first baseman who'd stop a double shy of the cycle, including a three-run home run in the first-inning. He's 26 years old, he's spent the bulk of the past half-decade riding buses in the minors, and he hadn't put forth three hits in a day since May 16 in Round Rock, Texas.

Boom:

"I haven't had one of those days in a while," he'd tell me afterward. "It's good to know it's still in there."

For the fresh arrival, a chance to breathe.

Davis, who'd been sharing with me his "frustration" the previous day, not with his 2-for-38 free fall at the time but, befitting his reputation, "just with not winning," set up Rivas' blast with a two-out single in the first that blessedly bounced off second base and changed direction. And in the next inning, he took no chances.

Boom:

There were more: Josh Palacios annihilated a home run in the sixth and, coincidence or not, in the plate appearance following a 102.9-mph laser of a lineout, also to right field. Bryan Reynolds was next up, and he belted one out there, too, for an 8-3 lead that allowed everyone at the Pittsburgh railing to ... you know.

Boom, boom:

Still and all, I can't fathom that anyone found more room to breathe than the kid on the mound.

Quinn Priester, former first-round pick, former prospect phenom, dragged an ERA of 9.19 into this, his fourth big-league start, and he'd emerge with one of ... uh, 8.69. Which is what happens when a pitching line of four-plus innings gets pockmarked by three runs, five hits, three walks, a Carlos Santana moon shot, and only 48 of 88 pitches recorded as strikes.

Not great. And not at all up to the hopes that anyone, chiefly Priester himself, would've had upon his promotion July 17.

But man, I sure loved one facet of it, and hear me out, please, before passing judgment.

Bottom of the fourth. Pirates up, 6-2. It's the kind of lead that'll offer most starters some comfort, but in Priester's case, as he'd tell me, "You've got to make sure you hold it. Our guys did a great job. You can't let anyone down."

Sounds wonderful. Didn't look that way when the Brewers opened that inning with a single and two walks to load the bases. And when Joey Wiemer took Priester's first three pitches, all sliders, for balls, it worsened to the point that poor Bernie Brewer, the mascot who suffers vertigo every time the Pirates come to town, was probably perched at the edge of his spiraling slide.

Funny thing happened next: Sinker for a called strike. Sinker for a swinging strike. Sinker for a foul. Sinker for a popup behind home plate, caught by Endy Rodriguez.

Why the sudden sinkers?

"Because," Rodriguez would tell me, "that should be his pitch."

Note the emphasis. Then know that, the previous day, Priester had expressed to me exasperation with how slowly his sinker had been coming along since the promotion. He tried tiptoeing around it in his first three starts, to no avail.

This was the time, apparently.

"One way or another, I've got to make that pitch happen for me here," Priester would tell me after this game. "I knew that. Endy knew that. So here they came."

Not right away, but yeah:

MLB.com

That final called strike "was a ball" above the zone, as Rodriguez admitted, but his framing helped prod the Edwin Moscoso call, and Christian Yelich, the former National League MVP enjoying a revival summer, took a seat.

"Endy bought me one," Priester also admitted. "I'll take it."

They then went after William Contreras with a couple more sinkers for a 5-4 forceout that killed the rally and prompted Priester to raise his glove to his mouth and bark out something visibly emotional. Rodriguez responded by gesturing enthusiastically with his big mitt toward his pitcher.

"We're like one," Rodriguez would say. "I believe in him. He's a beast when he pitches like that."

Like what?

To that question, Rodriguez silently tapped his heart.

And talk about getting to breathe:

"It's a kind of situation where we've been here before, we got here in the same way by walking guys that you don't need to walk, and it got us last time," Priester would recall. "Tonight, I didn't let it get me. I was able to throw some good sinkers, make pitches when I needed to. At the end of the day, we got the outs we needed and minimized the damage. I was proud of that."

That's cool.

I asked Derek Shelton if he learned anything about Priester in that inning.

"He showed me that he's not afraid," Shelton replied without hesitation. "That's not an easy situation. He's one hitter away from coming out of the game. Top of the order. Getting out an MVP. Getting out Contreras. He showed me that he's not afraid. And that's a really important thing for a young player."

Look, I won't read more into one sequence of well-timed strikes than I will the Pirates' ninth win in their past 36 games here, their first in the past seven. Isolated stuff happens. As surely as some dude named Bailey Falter might not match up well Saturday night against Milwaukee's Mr. Cy Young, Corbin Burnes, to set the baseball cosmos straight, Priester might not slip through the next mess unscathed.

But he ramped up his velocity to 94 mph, even 95 mph over that inning, all via the two-seamer. He kept trying the curve, the change, even the slider that'd bailed on him early. He's no flamethrower, but he's got all of that.

"It's really just a matter of showing up one day with all of that working at the same time," he'd tell me. "It hasn't happened yet in the big leagues, but it will."

Maybe the exhale proves pivotal.

GETTY

Alfonso Rivas is congratulated in the dugout after his three-run home run in the first inning.

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THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: 2B Ji Hwan Bae (ankle)

• 15-day injured list: RHP Dauri Moreta (lower back), 

• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), INF Tucupita Marcano (knee), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Josh Palacios, LF
2. Bryan Reynolds, DH
3. Jack Suwinski, CF
4. Henry Davis, RF
5. Alfonso Rivas, 1B
6. Jared Triolo, 3B
7. Endy Rodriguez, C
8. Alika Williams, SS
9. Vinny Capra, 2B

And for Craig Counsell's Crew:

1. Christian Yelich, LF
2. William Contreras, C
3. Carlos Santana, 1B
4. Willy Adames, SS
5. Sal Frelick, RF
6. Mark Canha, DH
7. Brian Anderson, 3B
8. Brice Turang, 2B
9. Joey Wiemer, CF

THE SCHEDULE

The third of this four-game series pits newcomer Bailey Falter (0-7, 5.13) against Corbin Burnes (5-4, 4.76). First pitch is 7:10 p.m. Eastern.

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