Old friend cheered on Musgrove from afar
Jacob Stallings knows firsthand how good Joe Musgrove canbe.
The Pirates catcher was behind the plate for many of Musgrove’s starts with the Pirates over the past two seasons, before the right-hander was traded to the San Diego Padres this offseason.
On Friday night, Stallings was watching from afar as Musgrove made history, pitching a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers. It’s the first no-hitter in San Diego Padres history.
“Most of the time I view it from more of a strategic perspective, but honestly, with Joe last night, I was just watching as a fan and a friend,” Stallings said. “I just really wanted him to get it. ... So I was watching more from a friend perspective, but definitely noticed how many sliders he was throwing and especially late in the game, he was relying on his breaking balls a lot. I could tell he was pretty gassed, too, just knowing him.”
Musgrove is scheduled to pitch against the Pirates when the Padres come to town for a four-game series.
That will come just days after the Pirates face righthander Trevor Williams, who spent his entire career with the Pirates before signing with the Chicago Cubs. He’s the scheduled starter for Sunday’s series finale between the Pirates and Cubs.
Stallings said he doesn’t particularly enjoy facing old teammates, because he wants them to have success in general.
“It’s weird, man,” Stallings said. “It’s really weird, especially in Trevor’s case, because he’s on the Cubs and I don’t really ever find myself rooting for the Cubs and now I’m rooting for him. Not that I hate the Cubs or anything. They’re just in our division. ... He had a great debut with them. Watching the highlights, it’s weird seeing him in adifferent uniform.”
Controlling the starters
The only Pirates pitcher who has thrown at least five innings in a start this season is lefty Tyler Anderson, who did it in both his outings. What’s more, only righthander JT Brubaker has an ERA below 5.00.
Obviously this is a small sample size, and there is reason for it. Chad Kuhl missed time in the spring to be with his wife, who had just given birth. Right-hander Trevor Cahill joined camp late and didn’t get the chance to build upto where he’d normally be.
Still, in the midst of a sixgame losing streak entering Saturday night’s game against the Cubs, the Pirates could use more length from their starters.
“We still need length out of them, even though they’re not built up,” Stallings said. “We haven’t been getting the length that we need out of our starters (but) it doesn’t change how I call the game. I just try to try to get them in the zone, get early, weak contact, get ahead and stay ahead and put guys away.”
There’s also right-hander
Mitch Keller, who has thrown a good number of pitches in his starts through the spring and early season, but has been wild, walking 12 through his 14⅓ innings combined in Bradenton and the regular season. He isn’t alone in struggling with walks, either, and Stallings is at least partially responsible for helping them get back in their groove when they can’t find the strike zone.
“If they’re struggling to command the fastball, then sometimes I’ll go to off-speed stuff and try to get them in rhythm that way and get them into pitch mode — try to get them out of their own heads a little bit and just think about executing pitches,” Stallings said. “A lot of times, that can help get their fastball locked in. It really just depends on the guy and which pitches he has worked in and what features aren’t working and trying to give him some confidence with whatever is working so that we can get the other stuff lockedin too.”
Hayes progressing
By last update, it seemed Ke’Bryan Hayes’ left hand injury was worse than previously thought. Originally, the third baseman was not thought to need a stint on the injured list, but he then struggled to squeeze his glove closed or swing a bat and was sent to the 10-day IL.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Saturday that Hayes has begun taking groundballs.
“Like I said, we will take each day at a time,” Shelton said.