Derek Shelton described himself as "pissed."
And pardon my use of the language on a family site, but I'd never seen the man like this in a half-decade around him and, if I'm telling the truth, I thought for at least the splittest of split-seconds that there might've been a moment of accountability forthcoming.
Not regarding the players. That occurs often enough.
I mean regarding the manager. Or the managing of a game, such as the Pirates' exceptionally excruciating 6-5 loss to the Diamondbacks on this Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. Or even just the managing of a specific situation within that game. And I'd allowed myself to process, however momentarily, what it'd be like to hear him pipe up at that press conference table about how he'd really blown this one.
Because, as I'm about to illustrate, he really did. Several times over.
But nope. He was angry over something else. Something, as I should've anticipated, that'd involve a pitch-clock dispute, the one thing I've seen that ticks him off to any significant degree. And sure enough, it was: Arizona's Lourdes Gurriel had taken long to get into the box, after which home plate Jonathan Parra ruled an automatic strike, after which Jalen Beeks threw a changeup up and away for ball one, after which Torey Lovullo emerged from the visiting dugout to argue that Gurriel should've been granted more time because he's a pinch-hitter, after which the umpires conferred and, remarkably, removed the original strike from the count.
As if they'd engineered their own reverse time-travel, like the signature scene in the classic Christopher Reeve 'Superman' scene:
DC COMICS
The strike was erased, too, from the game's official play-by-play. It never happened, apparently.
Whatever. I've written it up elsewhere. Feel free to read. Or don't.
Now, Shelton was 100% right. The decision was among the dumbest that'll be made anywhere in Major League Baseball all summer.
But it had nothing to do with winning the game right in front of him, which, unfortunately, continues to be exposed as the most defining trait of his five-year tenure. Where everything's always about tomorrow. Or later in the series. Or later in the season. Or later in the decade.
Every once in a great while, he'll look like he's graduated from the COVID/complete rebuild manager that was very much a must back in 2020 -- all the patience, all the priority on the future, etc. -- such as when he showed the quick hook Saturday night to replace a struggling Dennis Santana with Beeks in the fifth inning and set the stage for a seamless victory.
And then, he'll lapse right back, as he did again and again in losing both this game and this series to another of those teams in the National League wild-card race:
• I'll start here, to be fair: I've no issue with Shelton deploying Colin Holderman with a two-run lead in the seventh inning on this day. He was among the majors' best relievers through April and May, and his results have been way worse than his actual execution of late. He's due for a bounceback and soon.
But I'll take massive issue with the Pirates -- meaning Shelton, Ben Cherington and the entirety of baseball ops -- being OK with taking basically half a bullpen into a game this pivotal. Count 'em up: There were seven total relievers on the roster, and four of those -- Beeks, Santana, Aroldis Chapman and Kyle Nicolas -- would be normally be deemed unavailable because of high usage. Which meant Paul Skenes, per this plan, presuming there was one, would need to pitch, oh, seven or eight innings, then everyone would cross their fingers until David Bednar.
Why? No, really, what the heck? Was no one in Indianapolis taking calls this weekend?
Be sure it'll be brought up with Cherington at his next availability. But nothing would've stopped Shelton from, you know, taking some sort of stand. Monday's a day off, and all that was needed was a fresh Ryder Ryan or two.
• Holderman's line from his only inning shows two walks, even though he didn't throw four pitches outside the zone on either. Shelton intimated that was part of his beef with Parra.
Holderman's line also shows, of course, that he'd then concede this Joc Pederson three-run home run to vault Arizona ahead, 5-4 ...
Ready for it? 🐍
— MLB (@MLB) August 4, 2024
The @Dbacks are back in front after a 3-run homer from Joc Pederson. pic.twitter.com/mOHIfZng7S
... on this 99.8-mph sinker on the outer black paint, precisely where Grandal had flashed his mitt. And it'd sail all the way over the Notch, no less.
No 100-mph-plus pitch all season in that spot's resulted in a home run for any left-handed hitter.
Small wonder Holderman had the reaction he did on the mound, as well as afterward with three questions I had for him:
On the alleged walks: "There were a couple close calls that didn't go our way. I haven't looked at 'em yet, so I'm not really going to speak on it further."
On the home run: "We were one pitch away, which we executed, down and away at 100 miles an hour. Normally, that works. But he made a better swing, put it out of the deepest part of the yard. Tip the cap."
On the pitch being placed precisely where he and Grandal hoped: "Yeah. Seems like there's been a lot of that lately."
I'll agree emphatically with every syllable. But in the same breath, I'm comfortable saying that, in that circumstance, I'd rather not face Pederson, owner of 17 home runs and a .930 OPS that's the best amid baseball's best lineup. Beeks had been warming, Chapman had just begun, and either would've brought a smarter matchup, or it would've moved Lovullo to pinch-hit.
"I mean, Beeks had thrown two days in a row," Shelton would say to this subject, even though Beeks would pitch in the very next inning. "I mean, we end up having to go to him."
Uh-huh.
"He hit a 100-mile-an-hour fastball away," Shelton would continue, referring to Pederson, but then somehow proceeding with: "Holdy's got to be better. He's got to make a pitch. He's pitched in that spot for us all year and it didn't work."
Which was it, then? Did Pederson hit a 100-mph fastball away? Or does Holderman need "to be better" and "to make a pitch?"
Like this pitch:
MLB
And did the manager really play no part in what unfolded?
Good Lord.
• I hate the bunt as much as anything in baseball.
And no, not just Isiah Kiner-Falefa's embarrassing popup bunt back to the pitcher, when the Pirates had two aboard and nobody out in the ninth inning needing two runs to tie. I hate almost all bunts in almost all settings.
But I really hated it in this one: The Diamondbacks have had closer trouble to the extent that, this week, they swapped out Paul Sewald for Ryan Thompson. So when the latter came on for the ninth and immediately walked Andrew McCutchen, then gave up a sharp single to Yasmani Grandal ... dude was in trouble. And wholly new to being in such trouble.
So, why not just gift him an out?
Bryan Reynolds would proceed, naturally, to single home run one run and advance the tying runner to third. That prompted Lovullo to replace the righty Thompson with the lefty A.J. Puk, who'd strike out Oneil Cruz and get Bryan De La Cruz to fly out.
Want to single out Kiner-Falefa for the bunt?
Go nuts, but know that, even if he'd put down a Jay Bell-esque beauty, there'd now be runners at second and third ... so Lovullo'd have a no-brainer in walking Reynolds to go left-left with Puk on Cruz. And Reynolds' hit, in turn, never happens, while Puk still fans Cruz.
It's almost as if, as all the analytics definitively demonstrate, giving away outs isn't a great idea.
I asked Shelton, while mentioning those analytics, if he'd given any thought to just letting Kiner-Falefa, who'd already tripled and doubled on the day, swing away.
"Yeah, we thought about it," he replied. "We didn't do it."
End of response.
I'm anything but a Shelton basher. Terrific human. Total professional. And his handling of his clubhouse absolutely merits credit for the persistence of these Pirates all season, including this very weekend. None of it's an accident and, for what it's worth, his players swear by him.
But managers and head coaches in any sport ultimately are hired to win, and Shelton still seems to be figuring out both the what and the how therein, a deeply disappointing scenario for anyone in their fifth year of doing anything.
Maybe get angry with the guy in the mirror.
• Tons more, including Skenes' odd day, Reynolds' latest gem, Cutch's health and more, in our Pirates Feed.
• Next series starts Tuesday against the Padres. I'll be all football all week.
• Thanks for reading my baseball coverage.
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