Shelton plays it cool

Pirates manager wasn’t panicking at Bryan Reynolds’ 0-for-13 start.

Even in 2020’s 60-game MLB season, four games are not enough to draw any substantial conclusions.

Still, one of the more concerning trends in the Pirates’ 1-3 start to this season has been the lack of production from left fielder Bryan Reynolds.

After finishing last season with a .314 average and coming in fourth in National League rookie of the year voting, Reynolds entered Tuesday 0 for 13 with four walks.

Two of those walks came Monday night in the Pirates’ home opener against the Milwaukee Brewers. To manager Derek Shelton, that is a good sign and he isn’t too concerned about Reynolds yet.

“I think the most important thing about Bryan Reynolds is he was born as a hitter,” Shelton said Tuesday. “He hit in little league. He hit in high school. He hit in college. He hit in the minor leagues. He hit last year. He’s going to hit. He’s had a couple rough games. When you have a couple rough games at the beginning of the season, it gets magnified a little bit, and with the 60-game season, people will magnify it even more. I think the quality of his at-bats [Monday] were better. He had two walks, he was a little more patient, so Bryan Reynolds is going to be fine. He’s going to hit.”

Shelton backed up those words by sticking with Reynolds Tuesday against with the Brewers. While that might not be an enormous gesture, the Pirates have changed their lineups frequently already this season.

For instance, Tuesday’s lineup had four changes from Monday night, a 6-5, 11-inning loss. The length of the game certainly played a part in that, but Reynolds’ continued presence is a sign of confidence that he will turn it around eventually.

Whatever happens in the lineup around him, the Pirates expect Reynolds to be a mainstay, drive the offensive output and be a rock in the lineup.

Shelton doesn’t feel the tough start has anything to do with pitchers attacking Reynolds differently, though. He just thinks it’s an abnormal four-game stretch and that it will turn in Reynolds’ favor eventually.

“I mean, one of the things that’s going to happen for anybody in their second year in the big leagues is you’re going to have more time to evaluate and do things, but when it’s teams in your division they see enough — he played 19 games against the Brewers last year and he played 19 games against the Cardinals, or whatever,” Shelton said. “So they have a pretty good idea, just like he has a pretty good idea about what guys are going to do to him.”

Pitchers on move

The Pirates placed two relief pitchers on the 10-day injured list — Kyle Crick with a right shoulder/lat strain and Clay Holmes (retroactive to July 25) with a right forearm strain.

Taking their place will be Geoff Hartlieb, who was called up, and Miguel Del Pozo, who was selected to the major league roster.

Crick is the more obvious of the two, as his velocity has been a few ticks below normal. In the loss Monday, Crick gave up a two-run, game-tying double to Brewers designated hitter Ryan Braun. Two days earlier, Crick allowed four earned runs in ⅔ of an inning in St. Louis.

The two exhibition outings Crick had also were problematic — a total of 1⅓ innings, 5 earned runs.

New name in AAA?

The Pirates Class AAA affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, is contemplating a name change, the organization announced Tuesday.

“Indianapolis Indians baseball dates back to 1902, and it’s been the organization’s goal to be low-cost family entertainment for all fans in an inclusive environment,” the statement read. “Knowing that the appropriateness of our team name is being questioned, we will be forming a committee to explore it while also gathering community input.”

The Indians say their name is derived from the state of Indiana, which means “Land of the Indians” and the city of Indianapolis, which means “City of Indians.”