BRADENTON, Fla. – Alika Williams would love to tell the tale of what it was like to watch his first home run in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform, even one that came in a Grapefruit League game.
One problem.
“I didn’t see it. My head was down,” Williams said. “I didn’t think it was getting out but it was good. I just looked up and the outfielder had his back to me and his palms were up, so I just kept running.”
Williams couldn’t stop smiling after he hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the sixth inning of a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon in a Grapefruit League game before 5,380 at LECOM Park.
It was a long-awaited moment for Williams: His first home run in a major league game, regular season or spring training.
“It feels really good,” said Williams, who has 36 home runs in the minors, including nine last season at Triple-A Indianapolis. “I know that I can hit a few here and there. It’s not like I’m a zero-homer guy. It definitely feels good to get one wearing this uniform.”
Mitch Keller made his third start of spring training and had three strikeouts and allowed one hit and two walks through the first three innings. His first time pitching in the fourth inning got off to a rough start when Nolan Gorman sent a 1-1 slider 411 feet to right-center for a leadoff home run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
After Jordan Walker followed with a single to left, Keller was replaced by Derek Diamond. Keller threw 36 of his 56 pitches for strikes, including 11 whiffs against the National League Central rival.
“It’s kind of indifferent, probably more of a benefit for them to see new stuff I’m working on and stuff,” Keller said. “There’s just kind of like that cat-and-mouse game where you don’t want to show too much, do too many things during the season in spring training to show them.”
The Pirates were trailing, 2-0, after a Pedro Pages RBI single off Chris Devenski to score Ramon Urias in the top of the sixth. Williams replaced Brandon Lowe in the second spot in the batting order in the sixth inning, playing shortstop. Williams is showing signs of improvement at the plat this spring, batting .286 (4 for 14).
“He’s been swinging the bat well,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Came on strong at the end of last year, had a really good second half down in Indy, and has had a good camp so far. We know he can play defense in the middle, especially at shortstop, and swing the bat pretty well.
“I think he looks more relaxed to me and is just going up there, getting his swing off, you know, driving the ball. Talking about last year, he got to a point where he just went back to doing some things that he used to do, and has had some success with it again.”
Williams isn’t sure whether it was from lowering his hands or what, but he started to spin the ball at Indianapolis. The exit velocities weren’t necessarily eye-popping but he noticed that the ball had more carry.
After Nick Cimillo reached on a one-out throwing error by Gorman at third base, Williams drove a 1-0 fastball 384 feet to center at an exit velocity of 99.2 mph. The ball just cleared the fence.
Williams had played in 50 Grapefruit League games, including three with the Tampa Bay Rays, and 83 MLB games without hitting a home run. Now, his homerless streak had finally ended.
“The longer you go without hitting one, it can creep into your head a little bit,” Williams said. “I think Jake Lamb a few years ago in Indy said it best: You hit homers when you’re not trying to hit them. I’m just staying within myself. That’s when I hit homers, when I’m trying to hit line drives up the middle. It just carried.”
Williams’ homer tied the game. Jimmy Crooks lined a single to center off Cam Sander to drive in Joshua Baez in the eighth inning to give the Cardinals the game-winning run.
“Anytime you hit a homer and it helps the team get back in the game, it feels really good,” Williams said. “It’s spring training but we’re still trying to win. Everyone was super pumped. It was a really cool reaction, a lot of smiles and a lot of laughs. Do it again tomorrow.”