LeBlanc displays long relief
There was one out in the first inning Monday when manager Clint Hurdle phoned the bullpen ordering left-hander Wade LeBlanc to warm. Four outs later, right-hander Tyler Glasnow was gone, and it was LeBlanc’s ballgame. He carried the Pirates through the seventh inning.
LeBlanc’s line, one run allowed in 5⅓ innings, marked the longest outing for a Pirates reliever since lefthander Kris Johnson threw six innings in his debut Aug. 18, 2013, a 16-inning game.
The outcome Monday, a 7-1 Pirates loss, wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t burn the bullpen. If LeBlanc, the veteran long reliever, hadn’t eaten so many innings, Hurdle said, it “could have gotten disconnected in a couple ways, and we could be looking at different personnel in the clubhouse.”
Instead the Pirates relievers Tuesday were the same ones in the bullpen opening day.
“I joked with the guys that I want to get through the season with seven relievers,” LeBlanc said Tuesday. “Whatever I can do to help make that happen, I’m game.”
On Monday, that charge called for LeBlanc to throw 64 pitches. After allowing three runs and recording only one out Friday against the Atlanta Braves, he made it work Tuesday with a mid-80s mph fastball and a variety of off-speed offerings. He didn’t throw more than three innings in spring training, and his last relief appearance that lengthy was May 30, 2014.
“You kind of go until they tell you to stop,” LeBlanc said. “You can’t really conserve anything, especially when you’re trying to get big league hitters out with the stuff I have. You’ve got to give them everything every pitch.”
Hurdle drew the fans’ ire Monday by batting LeBlanc three times. He struck out twice with the bases loaded. LeBlanc joked Tuesday he would take no questions regarding hitting, but he answered anyway. Had he been excited for the chance to hit with the bases loaded?
“Not against those guys!” LeBlanc exclaimed. “I need to hit against me.”
To his credit, LeBlanc took some healthy hacks. He entered the game with a .250 career hitter (28 for 112), but “that was in my glory days,” he said. His last base hit was in 2013.
Fellow long reliever Trevor Williams, seated in the next-door locker in the Pirates clubhouse, did the math on the 0-for-3 day and told LeBlanc, “Next [at bat] you would’ve gotten a hit.”
Franchise value
According to Forbes, the Pirates are 17th on the list of baseball’s most valuable franchises, with a current valuation estimated at $1.25 billion, up 28 percent from a year ago. For the 20th consecutive year, the New York Yankees top the list with a $3.7 billion valuation.
The average team is worth $1.54 billion, up 19 percent from last year, according to Forbes. Value increases were largely driven by new local television deals and the increasing profitability of Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the league’s technology division, per Forbes.
The long game
On Monday, Reds relievers retired the last 21 Pirates batters, a feat the Chicago Cubs accomplished May 30 last year. Before the Cubs did it, the last time a bullpen threw at least seven perfect innings was June 23, 1917, according to Elias Sports Bureau. That day, Red Sox starter Babe Ruth was ejected after walking the leadoff batter. Ernie Shore entered, the runner was caught stealing, and Shore retired the last 26 batters in order for a combined no-hitter.