Derek Shelton issued the Pittsburgh Pirates a warning about facing Luis Ortiz, expecting the right-hander to throw heavy velocity in his first return to PNC Park since being traded to the Cleveland Guardians.
“Any time you pitch against the team that traded you, you may see some 100s,” Shelton said, “because he’s going to come out fired up throwing it.”
The Pirates should have been worried about his battery mate.
Cleveland catcher Bo Naylor went 3 for 5 with a solo home run and a two-run double to ignite the Guardians in a 10-7 win Friday night before a crowd of 27,900 for the first fireworks night of the season.
“I personally didn’t feel that in the moment, but that was the spark of their offense. He had a good day in general,” said Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski (1-3), who allowed five runs on nine hits and two walks in four innings. “I thought their offense all-around had a good day. They put up some tough at-bats and got to some good pitches. Ultimately, that’s just how the game goes. As a pitching staff, we’ve just got to execute better.”
Half of Cleveland’s 14 hits went for extra bases, including six doubles. The Pirates (8-13) surrendered double-digit runs for the second time this season but rallied late to finish with 11 hits.
The Pirates were ready for Ortiz (2-2), who averaged 99 mph on 53 fastballs and topped 100 six times in a dazzling major league debut in September 2022 at Cincinnati. Ortiz was 12-13 with a 3.93 ERA in 59 games (34 starts) over three seasons for the Pirates before he was dealt to the Guardians, along with two minor league pitching prospects, in December for first baseman Spencer Horwitz.
Ortiz said he had “a lot of emotions” about returning to the team that signed him out of the Dominican Republic and developed him.
“A bunch of time has passed since the trade and onto the season. A lot of familiar faces, guys that I know that I came up with,” Ortiz said through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “But, still, I’m on the mound, my job is to get outs and attack, and that’s what I tried to do.”
Ortiz didn’t touch triple digits but used his slider to draw seven whiffs. Ortiz recorded eight strikeouts while allowing two runs on four hits and three walks in five innings, though he didn’t get off to a strong start.
Oneil Cruz hit a leadoff home run for the second consecutive game by belting Ortiz’s first-pitch fastball over the middle 369 feet to the left field corner for a 1-0 lead. It was Cruz’s third homer in as many days, matching a feat last accomplished by Connor Joe on May 11-14, 2024.
By following a grand slam Wednesday against the Washington Nationals with back-to-back leadoff homers, Cruz became only the second major leaguer since at least 1900 to do so in a three-game span. The other was Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies, who did it in the opposite order in 2016 with a leadoff homer on May 30 and another leadoff homer and grand slam on May 31.
Not only has Cruz excelled in the leadoff spot, but Bryan Reynolds is benefiting from batting behind him. Reynolds went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, including a solo homer.
“I think Bryan’s in a better spot,” Shelton said. “I think Bryan probably had the best work day that he’s had in a long time today and I think we saw the benefits of it today with his swings.”
But the Pirates’ pitching struggled. Mlodzinski, trying to duplicate what Ortiz did for the Pirates last season by moving from the bullpen into the rotation, tossed two scoreless innings before Naylor tied it with a 425-foot blast to center in the third.
Lane Thomas and Jose Ramirez hit back-to-back two-out singles, and Thomas scored on Kyle Manzardo’s double to right for a 2-1 lead. But Ramirez was thrown out at home trying to score from first when second baseman Adam Frazier relayed Reynolds’ throw to catcher Joey Bart.
The Pirates tied it in the third when Andrew McCutchen drew a walk, stole second base and scored on Bart’s single to center. But Cleveland answered again, as Mlodzinski struggled the second time through the order. Naylor did more damage with a two-run double to center to drive in Carlos Santana and Gabriel Arias, who scored when Cruz skipped the cutoff throw past Frazier.
“I think that’s something we’ve got to look into, because we’re seeing that trend start to happen three or four starts now,” Shelton said of Mlodzinski. “That’s probably going to be the topic of conversation that we’re going to have over the next couple days.”
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After Ramirez led off the fifth with a double to right, lefty Joey Wentz replaced Mlodzinski. Ramirez stole third and scored on a fielding error at third base by Gold Glove winner Jared Triolo for a 5-2 lead.
The Guardians added five more runs in the seventh on back-to-back two-run doubles off Kyle Nicolas by Jhonkensy Noel and Arias and a Brayan Rocchio sacrifice fly to make it 10-2.
The Pirates responded with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Reynolds hit a two-out, 372-foot shot to right field off Tim Herrin for his third home run to make it 10-3, and Enmanuel Valdez crushed a 405-footer to straightaway center for his first of the season to make it 10-5.
They staged another rally in the bottom of the ninth against Paul Sewald. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a leadoff double, Cruz drew a full-count walk and Reynolds hit a flare to left to score Kiner-Falefa and cut it to 10-6. Valdez cut the deficit to three with a double to the left-field corner that scored Cruz. Reynolds was thrown out at third on the play, and the Pirates lost a challenge.
Cleveland brought in three-time All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase, only for him to walk Bart on four pitches to bring the tying run to the plate. Jack Suwinski, who struck out in his first three at-bats, went down swinging at a slider to end the game.
“They continued to battle. They continued to grind,” Shelton said of his team. “It was a (10-3) game, and we got the closer in the game. We had the tying run at the plate, so they continued to fight. They continued to battle, and I think that’s a really encouraging sign.”