By recent Cleveland standards, the first four innings Danny Salazar pitched Sunday afternoon at PNC Park were nothing special.
Not that the 25-year-old right-hander wasn’t dominant in retiring 12 of the Pirates’ first 14 batters, seven by swinging strikeout. It’s just that when a starting rotation has had three legitimate perfect-game bids in the past week – plus a complete-game loss Saturday – the excellent can appear routine.
However, elevated bar or not, Salazar came crashing down from those heights during a five-run fifth inning that pushed the Pirates to a 5-3 come-from-behind victory.
“We finally got some guys on base and got him into trouble,” Neil Walker said of Salazar. “We knew we had to stay aggressive because he was coming right at us.”
Salazar, who dispatched the first 15 Tampa Bay batters in his previous start Tuesday, blew through the opening four innings to momentarily steal the stage from counterpart Gerrit Cole, riding his high-90s fastball to mute the sellout crowd of 36,812. That trend changed in the fifth, when Jung Ho Kang lined a leadoff two-strike single and Pedro Alvarez followed with a loud two-run home run over the North Side Notch.
In a span of two minutes, the Pirates went from absorbing heat to throwing flame right back, starting with Alvarez’s redirection of an outside fastball.
“That swing right there gave us a lift,” Clint Hurdle said. “There’s no doubt about it. That kid, Salazar … that’s a live fastball with big-time finish. We had to roll up our sleeves in the batter’s box. The fifth inning opened up for us and we took advantage of it.”
Three batters after Alvarez’s 14th homer, Salazar nearly escaped with a 3-2 lead intact, but Walker sliced a two-out single to left to tie the game, followed by Andrew McCutchen’s go-ahead two-run double off the bullpen fence.
Salazar had whiffed McCutchen with a high fastball in the fourth, but that didn’t alter his approach:
Terry Francona, the Indians’ manager, fairly leaped from the dugout to pull his starter after McCutchen’s smash, completing a stunning reversal.
“We were able to chase a very good young pitcher with some dynamic stuff,” Hurdle said. “I don’t think anybody had that in their pocket going to the fifth. There are punches to the body, and then finally they lower their hands and you can hit somebody in the head.”
• Cole traveled an opposite path to Salazar, overcoming a so-so start in terms of command to barrel his way through eight innings on a warm afternoon. After allowing three runs, five hits and six total baserunners over the first three, he burned through 16 straight Indians while the Pirates’ bats erased a 3-0 deficit.
“Sometimes, even if you give up some runs early, if you get on a roll it gives your offense a chance to come back,” Cole said. “I had a good fastball today, but they’re a disciplined team that wasn’t chasing anything outside the zone. We mixed locations and types with the fastball, tried to locate and get quick outs.”
Cole’s control was fine all day — one walk to Carlos Santana in the second — but his command within the strike zone was lacking a bit. That looseness contributed to the handful of productive at-bats the Indians strung together early, as did some unfamiliarity with the opposing lineup.
“I wasn’t too frustrated,” Cole said after his first career start against Cleveland. “I thought they hit some good pitches. That happens sometimes. They were decent pitches. I think maybe a little bit more of a feel for the lineup would have helped.”
In what is becoming a signature habit for the former first-overall draft pick, Cole maintained his velocity throughout, hitting triple digits on the radar gun in a 1-2-3 eighth that triggered an ovation. He threw 106 pitches, 69 for strikes.
“He wasn’t way off early,” Hurdle said. “Balls find grass and they score some runs. It was time to grow up and pitch, and that’s what he did. Once we got that five in the fifth, he went into the closer’s mentality.”
Cole credited the Pirates hitters for “continuing to battle” after the big fifth, giving him some extra time in the dugout. Cleveland employed three pitchers in the lengthy bottom of the seventh alone, even though the home team wasn’t able to add another run.
“That helped me keep my legs under me,” Cole said.
Another sellout crowd at PNC Park came prepared for fun. — JARED WICKERHAM / GETTY
• There were some baserunning-related oddities mixed in for good measure. Perhaps the strangest of those happened during McCutchen’s fifth-inning double, as Walker held up while rounding second base, thinking that the ball had cleared the fence in left-center.
Walker realized his error quickly enough to score without incident, but that wasn’t the case for Chris Stewart, who was thrown out by Indians catcher Roberto Perez when he wandered too far off second in the third inning during Walker’s turn at the plate.
Stewart made up for that inexplicable mistake by beating out a rare infield single with one out in the fifth, setting up the RBI hits by Walker and McCutchen. Even that didn’t occur without incident, though, as Stewart was initially ruled out after a tumbling stop by Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor. The call was overturned by replay.
Prior to the game, Stewart was joking in the clubhouse about his running ability, comparing himself unfavorably to his son Sebastian.
“He didn’t get his speed from me, but maybe I got it from him,” Stewart remarked afterward.
• Starling Marte left in the fourth inning due to what the Pirates called “discomfort” in his left side. He seemed to have injured himself after swinging and missing at a down-and-in pitch.
Marte initially stayed in after Hurdle and athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk came out of the dugout to check on him, but after a tentative swing on a foul ball, Hurdle decided to pull his cleanup hitter in favor of Gregory Polanco.
“We’ve had some situations where [an injury] pops up and goes away,” Hurdle said. “It didn’t look like it was going away, so I made the call to get him out.”
The team announced during the game that Marte would be fully evaluated Monday. He was mobile after the game, saying he was feeling “better” before speeding away from the clubhouse on a scooter, as many of the Pirates do.
• In addition to the home run, his second of the week but his first at PNC Park since June 10, Alvarez made perhaps the best play of his brief career at first base.
Cleveland’s Brandon Moss started the seventh with a sharp ground ball to Alvarez’s right, only to watch the Pirates’ first baseman dive with full extension to glove it, spring up and toss to a covering Cole.
“Really good to see him show up on both sides of the ball,” Hurdle said. “It builds some confidence. You saw that pumped up Cole as well … it brought some energy. You guys figure out if it’s his best. I get stuck in a corner if I say that.”
Adding to the defensive theme, the Pirates also turned double plays in the second and third innings.
“Defense was great all game,” Cole said.
• Mark Melancon stretched his streak to 25 straight save opportunities converted, striking out Moss with a curveball in the dirt to close the holiday weekend. He is now one short of the club record for consecutive successful saves, set by Joel Hanrahan in 2011.
Melancon has allowed exactly one unearned run in his past 26 appearances.
“He’s maybe the most forward-focused guy on our club,” Hurdle said. “He studies the video and isn’t afraid to adjust to attack weaknesses.”
If I were a teacher of English composition I'd offer this as good prose: " Not that the 25-year-old right-hander wasn?t dominant in retiring 12 of the Pirates? first 14 batters, seven by swinging strikeout. It?s just that when a starting rotation has had three legitimate perfect-game bids in the past week ? plus a complete-game loss Saturday ? the excellent can appear routine."
Unless a pitcher is getting no one out I don't judge much by the 1st three innings. I have seen many pitchers breeze through 3 then get roughed up in innings 4 through 6. Cole got better after the third inning, Salazar got worse. Such is baseball. It was a very nice win and always good to win a series.
As a new reporter on the Pirates scene, it's all I can do to not include all of his "nuggets." One of the most quotable people I've ever encountered in sports.
@matt I can imagine. When disco Dan was with the pens - combined with tomlin - Pittsburgh had the triple threat of coach-speak! Definitely keeps it interesting. Thanks for sharing
No offense to Bylsma and Tomlin, but no one matches the variety of Hurdle. Again, I'm not around all the time, but I watch/listen to most of his interviews anyway and you usually hear something new.
It's hard to distrust all we've collectively dreamed Pedro might be. All it takes is a spark of hope, and the pros and cons and the interested take down the site.
Cole briefly alluded to that in the postgame. He said he was surprised by the fact that Perez didn't swing at the first five pitches, then took a cut at the full-count pitch. Not sure if that helps, but he did address that at-bat.
Love the 'confidence' line and that Pedro's glove helped energize Cole. And these come from behind victories are so great in the team-wide confidence boost dept! Also, Was it yesterday that we saw Pedro get really angry at striking out? I haven't seen That too often from him this year but I am glad he is allowing himself to be less stoic. Love what emotion can do to a team!
Just read that the Padres are 43-12 at PNC Park and have not lost a series in Pittsburgh since 2000. Shades of the Brewers performance against the Buccos in Milwaukee for many years. Hopefully the law of averages will tilt back in the Pirates' favor when they face the Padres this week
I believe Pedro is becoming less of a liability at first. Not just because of his great play, but also he is learning which balls not to chase after -- forget which inning it was, but he made one step and the curbed his "cut it off in front of the shortstop" urges he has been exhibiting at FB.
@Matt: really enjoy your coverage, analysis and style - just excellent. And fun!
Thanks Patrick. Interesting tidbit I couldn't quite find a way to sneak in: Melancon works with Alvarez whenever the latter wants to work on the play to his right with the pitcher covering. Thought that says a lot about Melancon's character, because I'm sure he could find other ways to spend his time.
There's absolutely no way to sugar coat how awful Alvarez has been, but if there's any silver lining I think it's that something like five or six of his errors have been on balls that just straight up bounced out or off of his glove. Not grounders he booted with poor footwork or hands, throws and hits that he just straight up missed. As inexplicable as those errors have been, we know that Pedro Alvarez, at least, can catch baseballs.
Anyone else find Clint's phrasing telling about Pedro... that it was good to see him "show up on both sides of the ball"... I know Pedro is often termed a hard worker, etc. but to me, I sense managerial dissatisfaction with him consistently doing what needs to be done effort wise and work wise. and definitely pitch recognition wise. as has been said many times "Pedro is Pedro"...right now, his raw power is a must in this lineup...and you have to put up with the rest of the inevitable disappointments he will bring.
DK, Matt, or Dejean:
Why do you hear sellout when the crowd is actually reported less than the capacity for PNC Park? Does it have something to do with SRO seats?
Josh Harrison crashes into second base while stealing ahead of Jason Kipnis' tag. -- JARED WICKERHAM / GETTY
July 5, 2015
Pirates push through Cleveland K-machine
by Matt Gajtka • Coverage • Pirates
By recent Cleveland standards, the first four innings Danny Salazar pitched Sunday afternoon at PNC Park were nothing special.
Not that the 25-year-old right-hander wasn’t dominant in retiring 12 of the Pirates’ first 14 batters, seven by swinging strikeout. It’s just that when a starting rotation has had three legitimate perfect-game bids in the past week – plus a complete-game loss Saturday – the excellent can appear routine.
However, elevated bar or not, Salazar came crashing down from those heights during a five-run fifth inning that pushed the Pirates to a 5-3 come-from-behind victory.
“We finally got some guys on base and got him into trouble,” Neil Walker said of Salazar. “We knew we had to stay aggressive because he was coming right at us.”
Salazar, who dispatched the first 15 Tampa Bay batters in his previous start Tuesday, blew through the opening four innings to momentarily steal the stage from counterpart Gerrit Cole, riding his high-90s fastball to mute the sellout crowd of 36,812. That trend changed in the fifth, when Jung Ho Kang lined a leadoff two-strike single and Pedro Alvarez followed with a loud two-run home run over the North Side Notch.
In a span of two minutes, the Pirates went from absorbing heat to throwing flame right back, starting with Alvarez’s redirection of an outside fastball.
“That swing right there gave us a lift,” Clint Hurdle said. “There’s no doubt about it. That kid, Salazar … that’s a live fastball with big-time finish. We had to roll up our sleeves in the batter’s box. The fifth inning opened up for us and we took advantage of it.”
Three batters after Alvarez’s 14th homer, Salazar nearly escaped with a 3-2 lead intact, but Walker sliced a two-out single to left to tie the game, followed by Andrew McCutchen’s go-ahead two-run double off the bullpen fence.
Salazar had whiffed McCutchen with a high fastball in the fourth, but that didn’t alter his approach:
Terry Francona, the Indians’ manager, fairly leaped from the dugout to pull his starter after McCutchen’s smash, completing a stunning reversal.
“We were able to chase a very good young pitcher with some dynamic stuff,” Hurdle said. “I don’t think anybody had that in their pocket going to the fifth. There are punches to the body, and then finally they lower their hands and you can hit somebody in the head.”
• Cole traveled an opposite path to Salazar, overcoming a so-so start in terms of command to barrel his way through eight innings on a warm afternoon. After allowing three runs, five hits and six total baserunners over the first three, he burned through 16 straight Indians while the Pirates’ bats erased a 3-0 deficit.
“Sometimes, even if you give up some runs early, if you get on a roll it gives your offense a chance to come back,” Cole said. “I had a good fastball today, but they’re a disciplined team that wasn’t chasing anything outside the zone. We mixed locations and types with the fastball, tried to locate and get quick outs.”
Cole’s control was fine all day — one walk to Carlos Santana in the second — but his command within the strike zone was lacking a bit. That looseness contributed to the handful of productive at-bats the Indians strung together early, as did some unfamiliarity with the opposing lineup.
“I wasn’t too frustrated,” Cole said after his first career start against Cleveland. “I thought they hit some good pitches. That happens sometimes. They were decent pitches. I think maybe a little bit more of a feel for the lineup would have helped.”
In what is becoming a signature habit for the former first-overall draft pick, Cole maintained his velocity throughout, hitting triple digits on the radar gun in a 1-2-3 eighth that triggered an ovation. He threw 106 pitches, 69 for strikes.
“He wasn’t way off early,” Hurdle said. “Balls find grass and they score some runs. It was time to grow up and pitch, and that’s what he did. Once we got that five in the fifth, he went into the closer’s mentality.”
Cole credited the Pirates hitters for “continuing to battle” after the big fifth, giving him some extra time in the dugout. Cleveland employed three pitchers in the lengthy bottom of the seventh alone, even though the home team wasn’t able to add another run.
“That helped me keep my legs under me,” Cole said.
Another sellout crowd at PNC Park came prepared for fun. — JARED WICKERHAM / GETTY
• There were some baserunning-related oddities mixed in for good measure. Perhaps the strangest of those happened during McCutchen’s fifth-inning double, as Walker held up while rounding second base, thinking that the ball had cleared the fence in left-center.
Walker realized his error quickly enough to score without incident, but that wasn’t the case for Chris Stewart, who was thrown out by Indians catcher Roberto Perez when he wandered too far off second in the third inning during Walker’s turn at the plate.
Stewart made up for that inexplicable mistake by beating out a rare infield single with one out in the fifth, setting up the RBI hits by Walker and McCutchen. Even that didn’t occur without incident, though, as Stewart was initially ruled out after a tumbling stop by Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor. The call was overturned by replay.
Prior to the game, Stewart was joking in the clubhouse about his running ability, comparing himself unfavorably to his son Sebastian.
“He didn’t get his speed from me, but maybe I got it from him,” Stewart remarked afterward.
• Starling Marte left in the fourth inning due to what the Pirates called “discomfort” in his left side. He seemed to have injured himself after swinging and missing at a down-and-in pitch.
Marte initially stayed in after Hurdle and athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk came out of the dugout to check on him, but after a tentative swing on a foul ball, Hurdle decided to pull his cleanup hitter in favor of Gregory Polanco.
“We’ve had some situations where [an injury] pops up and goes away,” Hurdle said. “It didn’t look like it was going away, so I made the call to get him out.”
The team announced during the game that Marte would be fully evaluated Monday. He was mobile after the game, saying he was feeling “better” before speeding away from the clubhouse on a scooter, as many of the Pirates do.
• In addition to the home run, his second of the week but his first at PNC Park since June 10, Alvarez made perhaps the best play of his brief career at first base.
Cleveland’s Brandon Moss started the seventh with a sharp ground ball to Alvarez’s right, only to watch the Pirates’ first baseman dive with full extension to glove it, spring up and toss to a covering Cole.
“Really good to see him show up on both sides of the ball,” Hurdle said. “It builds some confidence. You saw that pumped up Cole as well … it brought some energy. You guys figure out if it’s his best. I get stuck in a corner if I say that.”
Adding to the defensive theme, the Pirates also turned double plays in the second and third innings.
“Defense was great all game,” Cole said.
• Mark Melancon stretched his streak to 25 straight save opportunities converted, striking out Moss with a curveball in the dirt to close the holiday weekend. He is now one short of the club record for consecutive successful saves, set by Joel Hanrahan in 2011.
Melancon has allowed exactly one unearned run in his past 26 appearances.
“He’s maybe the most forward-focused guy on our club,” Hurdle said. “He studies the video and isn’t afraid to adjust to attack weaknesses.”