Ben Cherington called it a crazy week of baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who started their seven-game homestand getting swept by the St. Louis Cardinals and ended it with a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.
“We got punched in the face against the Cardinals, no doubt,” Cherington said Sunday in a guest appearance on Pirates flagship 93.7 The Fan. “Some combination of not executing quite well enough at the level we need to to win games, running into a team that was getting hot right at the wrong time for us and maybe a little bad luck mixed in. You mix those three things together and the outcomes aren’t going to be good.”
The Pirates general manager also issued a warning.
“We’re a better team than we were last year but, like most teams, we’re not so good that if you have those three things happening (that) you’re going to still win the game,” Cherington said. “We’ve got to get back to the things we know we need to do to win baseball games.”
Where the 17-7 win over the Reds on Saturday was an extreme — the Pirates had 19 hits and 11 walks, tying a MLB record with seven consecutive in the second inning — their 1-0 win over the Reds on Sunday was a perfect example of a team executing better, getting hot at the right time and having a little bit of good luck mixed in.
Braxton Ashcraft turned in a terrific performance with 7 2/3 scoreless innings, but he benefited from the Pirates turning double plays after he allowed baserunners in the fourth and seventh innings. Gregory Soto inherited runners on first and third with two outs in the eighth and struck out TJ Friedl, who had doubled in his previous at-bat. And Konnor Griffin followed a double play with a double off the center field wall, then scored the game-winning run on Oneil Cruz’s single to center.
But the Pirates returned to their roots of relying on strong starting pitching and balanced their offensive approach with better at-bats. Mitch Keller, Carmen Mlodzinski and Ashcraft delivered strong starts and, after getting 37 hits but drawing only 13 walks in four games against the Cardinals, they had 36 hits and 22 walks in three against the Reds.
Where Cherington was encouraged was with the Pirates’ compete level, and Pirates manager Don Kelly credited his players for how they responded to a five-game losing streak by sweeping the Reds.
“St. Louis put it on us here. That’s going to happen. That’s the game, it’s ball,” Pirates catcher Joey Bart said. “It’s always a game of momentum. We didn’t have any momentum last series. It seemed like we came out with momentum (against the Reds). Obviously, the offense has been going crazy the first two games and (Sunday) we hit a stalemate, but we did enough and the pitching kept us in it. Just trying to keep momentum moving, I think that’s the name of the game.”
Now, the Pirates (19-16) are positioned for a payoff. Starting with a six-game West Coast swing at Arizona and San Francisco, their next 12 games are against teams with losing records. The Diamondbacks have lost four consecutive and seven of their last 10, while the Giants have lost six straight and eight of 10. They return home to play the Colorado Rockies, who have lost four in a row and six of 10, before playing the Philadelphia Phillies, who followed a 10-game losing streak in April by winning six of their last eight.
The Pirates finished their 10-game stretch against National League Central opponents with a 5-5 record, with winning two at Milwaukee and three against the Reds serving as bookends to the five-game skid.
“I think it’s that toughness and the grit that we’ve got, the way that we compete,” Kelly said. “They’re not letting the day before affect them in how they go about it every single day. That’s really cool to see, the leadership in the clubhouse taking shape and how they hold each other accountable. To be able to go out and compete like that, it’s fun to watch.”
It shouldn’t just be seen as a crazy week but one that could go down as a defining moment early in this season where the Pirates learned not just what they need to do but what they can’t afford not to do to win games.
1. Hot spot: Cherington called the decision to demote Nick Yorke to Triple-A Indianapolis a “tough call,” but it was one that made perfect sense.
With Jared Triolo ready to be activated from the 10-day injured list, the Pirates had a logjam of infielders and no need for an extra outfielder with the presence of Jake Mangum and Billy Cook.
The more difficult decision will be who Kelly plays at third base. Triolo injured his right knee in his first start there, but the 2024 Gold Glove winner is their best defender at the position.
But Nick Gonzales has been one of their best bats, hitting .326 with three doubles and 12 RBIs — and, perhaps even more telling, seven walks — in the 26 games since April 4. Gonzales also has played better than expected at third base.
Cherington praised Gonzales for his ability to fight when his back is against the wall, going back to his days as a walk-on at New Mexico State who developed into a 2020 first-round pick and later was sent to the minors to make adjustments at the plate.
Where Gonzales was supplanted as the starter at second base with the acquisition of two-time All-Star Brandon Lowe, he’s now making the case to be a regular in the lineup.
“Now, it’s not guaranteed anymore. He has to fight for it,” Cherington said. “Every time he has been in that situation, he has fought back. He has found a way to elevate his game. That’s a credit to him. That’s a character trait.”
2. Coming of age: It was interesting to hear Cherington say that Griffin has “established himself at shortstop” after only 29 games in the majors but small sample sizes can be telling.
Griffin was only 19 when he made his major league debut, and he looked like a teenager through his first 19 games. Griffin batted .182 (12 for 66) with a .489 OPS, two doubles, a triple, eight RBIs and seven runs scored, with 22 strikeouts against four walks.
Since turning 20 on April 24, Griffin is living up to the hype as baseball’s consensus top prospect. He’s hitting .405 (15 for 37) with a 1.139 OPS, two doubles, a triple, two home runs, eight RBIs and six runs scored, with nine strikeouts and four walks in 10 games.
“I don’t know about the age,” Kelly said, “but it’s amazing to watch him make adjustments and the way he works every single day.”
Griffin put the NL Central on notice with his performance, which included his first homer at PNC Park against the Cardinals, a triple Saturday against the Reds and the double and scoring the game-winning run Sunday to clinch the sweep.
Asked about the age difference, Griffin wasn’t taking the bait.
“It’s been a good start,” he said.
3. Cruz in clutch: Kelly has been adamant that Cruz, at 6-foot-7, 248 pounds with broad shoulders and long levers, has the power to hit home runs with the flick of his wrist.
So it can be frustrating to watch when Cruz nearly swings out of his shoes trying to crush the ball. He batted .211 with a .566 OPS in the 10-game stretch against the NL Central.
But Cruz was 5 for 15 (.333) with two doubles and two RBIs in three games against the Reds, and came through in the clutch by hitting Tony Santillan’s 95.5-mph fastball above the strike zone for a single to left-center at a 103.8-mph exit velocity in the eighth inning to drive in Griffin for the game-winning run Sunday.
“Yeah, I think that he’s been phenomenal at that,” Kelly said. “I think the times he’s gotten outside himself, we’ve talked about every hitter out there wants to be the guy to come up with the big hit. And there’s times that even Oneil, even few and far between that this has happened, but it looks like he is trying to hit the home run instead of … for someone who’s 6-7, as tall as he is, the hand-eye coordination and the ability to put the ball in play and go and handle a pitch elevated like that, that’s elite talent.”
4. Middle men: What the Pirates got in back-to-back starts from Mlodzinski and Ashcraft shouldn’t be overlooked.
Coming off a 5-0 loss at Milwaukee on April 26 in which he lasted only 3 2/3 innings, Mlodzinski recorded a career-best 10 strikeouts Saturday in 5 2/3 innings in a start that demanded discipline. After giving up three runs in the first two innings, Mlodzinski sat for long spells in the five-run first, second and fourth innings. So it was more of a challenge than his six straight strikeouts indicated.
“I’m happy the way that I responded after the first two innings,” Mlodzinski said. “There’s obviously room to grow, but definitely happy the way I bounced back. Take away one or two pitches, that’s probably the best outing of my career.”
After delivering a seven-inning quality start April 22 at the Texas Rangers, then being on bereavement/family leave, Ashcraft allowed six runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings in an 11-7 loss to the Cardinals last Tuesday. Against the Reds, he matched Chase Burns inning for scoreless inning.
“It was awesome,” Kelly said. “And to go from the outing he had in Texas, and then the one in between, and then to come back out today and pitch the way he did, that’s the stuff he has and the competitor he is.”
5. Keeping up with Jones: What was impressive to everyone was how Jared Jones, a year removed from InternalBrace surgery on his right elbow, topped triple digits on eight of his first 18 pitches in his first rehabilitation start at Low-A Bradenton.
What stood out to Cherington was that Jones threw not just his fastball but curveball, slider and changeup and, for the most part, stayed in the strike zone.
And, most important, that he felt good the next day.
“So he checked all those boxes,” Cherington said. “We feel good about the first outing.”
Jones is scheduled to make his next rehab start Tuesday at Triple-A Indianapolis. Kelly indicated that Jones could also make rehab starts for Double-A Altoona, as the Pirates want to keep close tabs on the right-hander as he closes in on the May 24 date he becomes eligible to be activated from the 60-day IL.
The plan is to treat these rehab outings as if it were spring training, building Jones up to a starter’s load of six innings and 90 pitches. But Cherington indicated that the Pirates haven’t decided how Jones will be used when he’s ready, whether it’s returning immediately to the rotation or beginning with a bulk relief role out of the bullpen like they did after promoting Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler last year and lefty Hunter Barco this season.
“He is a starting pitcher. Long-term, he is a starting pitcher 100%. That’s how we feel about him,” Cherington said. “We haven’t gotten far enough into the rehab assignment to really get clear on exactly how we’re going to manage roles. As he comes back on the team, we’ve got time to do that. We’ve seen some success with guys who are starting pitching-caliber pitchers who have performed well in different roles.”
With Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller locked in at the top, that puts pressure on Mlodzinski, Ashcraft and Chandler to perform over the next three weeks to stay in the starting rotation.