Pirates manager argues through mask, gets first win
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pittsburgh's Derek Shelton staged baseball's first major, socially distanced umpire argument, then got his first victory as a big league manager as the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 on Sunday.
Colin Moran and Jose Osuna homered, and Mitch Keller pitched five solid innings for the Pirates.
Shelton came out to argue with plate umpire Jordan Baker in the third inning after pitcher Derek Holland was ejected from the dugout for arguing balls and strikes.
Shelton lifted a gaiter over his face as he left the dugout, and Baker pulled a mask out of his pocket and held it to his face as Shelton argued from about six feet away. Baker let Shelton say his piece, and the first-year skipper was not ejected.
Despite the odd circumstances of the argument, Shelton paid Baker a compliment about the dust-up.
“Jordan did a really good job of it. We were trying to stay distant, which we were both aware of,” he said. “Then his mask broke midway though (our argument) so I wanted to make sure that my mask stayed up and he was great.
"He handled it professionally. I think it was the first time, and we were both in an unknown area, and then when I went out there later, we kind of got a chuckle out of it.”
Pittsburgh avoided being swept and beat the Cardinals for just the second time in their last 14 meetings. The Pirates made sure this was a game to celebrate, all for their new manager.
“I got a pretty severe beer shower,” Shelton said. “I think anybody that knows me knows I'm (mad) we wasted that much beer.”
Keller (1-0) faced St. Louis for the first time in his career. He gave up one run, two hits and three walks while striking out three. His only blemish came when Kolten Wong scored on Tommy Edman's infield single in the third inning.
He attributed some of his success to the lack of familiarity the Cardinals had with him.
“It's advantage-me because they haven't seen me, I haven't seen any of those guys in the minor leagues or Triple-A or anything like that,” Keller said. “So the next time out I'll love to keep changing the game plan up on them and keep them on their toes.”
Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson (0-1) gave up four runs, including two homers, in 4 1/3 innings. Hudson lost for the first time in four career starts against the Pirates, and it was his first loss against an NL Central opponent after winning his previous five starts in 2019.
“They've been swinging a little bit early in the count lately, but it felt like after that, they kind of saw what I was I was trying to get them to swing at,” Hudson said. “I just left a few pitches over and it kind of snowballed a little bit.”
MARLINS 11, PHILLIES 6
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Marlins never considered sitting out a game as health concerns rattled the clubhouse. Brian Anderson and Miguel Rojas eased the lineup pain for a day -- and they'll have an extra night in Philadelphia to think about any potential scares ahead.
Anderson and Rojas each hit three-run homers and Miami overcame the late scratch of its starting pitcher and looming coronavirus scares to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 11-6 on Sunday.
“We're taking risks every day,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “That's what the players all around the league are doing. You travel all the time .. it's a risk that we take. We're going to have to be adjustable, we're going to have to be flexible, we're going to have to be patient.”
Jose Urena, Miami's opening day starter in 2018 and 2019, was bumped from his start about 90 minutes before the first pitch. The Marlins did not disclose the reason.
Miami's good vibes from winning two of three were dampened by the potential health scare that could keep key players out of the lineup for an undetermined length. The Marlins were scheduled to head home to start a two-game set with Baltimore on Monday, though waiting for COVID-19 test results will keep them in Philadelphia overnight.
“We were more comfortable flying as a group later,” Mattingly said.
Mattingly told Robert Dugger early in the morning he'd get the spot start. Miami had other players unavailable: Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramirez also were out of the lineup after playing in the first two games of the season-opening, three-game set against the Phillies. Again, the Marlins did not immediately say why the players were not in the lineup. Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro was placed on the injury list with an undisclosed ailment at the start of the series.
With the specter of the coronavirus hanging over the franchise, the Marlins refused to wilt and helped turn a steamy Sunday in front of another empty ballpark into a wild one and take the series.
CUBS, 9, BREWERS 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Chatwood pitched three-hit ball over six innings, Willson Contreras homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-1 on Sunday to take two of three in their opening series.
Chatwood (1-0) gave the Cubs just the sort of outing they were looking for after working mostly out of the bullpen last season. He struck out eight and walked two in an impressive start for a pitcher who struggled with his control his first two years in Chicago.
Contreras smacked an RBI double in the Cubs' four-run fourth and a long solo homer in the seventh. Ian Happ added a two-run drive in the eighth and Anthony Rizzo belted a solo shot one out later. It was the second homer for both Happ and Rizzo.
A day after things got testy between the two teams, the piped-in noise seemed loud enough to drown out any chatter between the dugouts. But the Brewers, who broke through against Yu Darvish in an 8-3 win after they were shut out by Kyle Hendricks on opening day, couldn't get much going.
Leading 1-0, the Cubs sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth. The first six reached safely, starting with Kyle Schwarber's walk and Contreras' double.
Freddy Peralta then walked Jason Heyward before Corey Knebel gave up RBI singles to Nico Hoerner, Victor Caratini and Happ, making it 5-0.