Brubaker speeds out of control
CINCINNATI — JT Brubaker likened his season, or any season, to a roller-coaster ride. Ups and downs, peaks and valleys, that sort of thing. But it’s also the rare sports cliché that might be legitimately applicable here.
The 27-year-old right-hander enjoyed a steady ascent, pitching his way to a strong first half that nudged him into a group of potential future pieces on this team, joining Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes and DavidBednar.
Lately, however, it has been a different story with Brubaker. There has been a weird feeling, a stomach
knot that says something maybe amiss.
That nagging thought was hard to escape after Brubaker struggled mightily Friday in a 10-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, the Pirates’ fifth game here this season wherethings got ugly.
“It’s just part of development,” Brubaker said. “Hopefully after [Friday] I went for a little downfall, and then I’ll be on the climb up nextstart.”
The Reds hit three home runs for the second consecutive night in this series and now have 14 in five home games against the Pirates in 2021. Meanwhile, Cincinnati has used those dingers to amass 47 runs during that stretch, including 17 already inthis series.
Cincinnati has been buoyed by the return of right fielder Nick Castellanos and third baseman Mike Moustakasthe past two nights, and the Reds have taken some of their frustration out on Wil Croweand Brubaker.
Manager Derek Shelton usedthe term “sped up” to describe what happened to Brubaker against the Reds, saying he essentially got out of his delivery and lost command of his pitches. Brubaker agreed with that assessment and said it was not only his arm but the rest of hisbody as well.
Brubaker began hurrying things, and the result was a bunch of pitches that were flat and up in the zone – bad news for any lineup but especiallythis one, a group now finally humming at full strength.
“I think the first two innings, he got really sped up and lost his delivery a little bit, lost command of his pitches,” Shelton said. “He did settle back down after that and gave us three more, which was extremely important.”
Before and after some of Brubaker’s recent starts, Shelton has talked about potentially limiting Brubaker’s innings the rest of the way, to preserve Brubaker’s arm and health and allow him to havea productive offseason.
After Friday’s outing, Brubaker has logged 107⅓ innings, which more than doublehis 2020 workload (47⅓).
But asked if the Pirates may cut Brubaker’s season short, Shelton said that has not been discussed. Shelton added that he was encouraged by how Brubaker responded, retiring 10 of the final11 batters he faced.
But the fact remains, Brubaker’s struggles haven’t been confined to getting sped up over what was essentially two innings in one start. The loss dropped him to 0-7 with a 6.23ERA over his past 10.
There has also been an avalanche of home runs. The two the Reds hit off Brubaker brought his total to 13 over his past eight starts. Brubaker has now allowed 23 on the season, a total eclipsed by just four pitchers across MLB.
The Reds scored seven times against Brubaker in the first. That’s when Moustakas,who had been out since May 18 with a foot injury, laced a double into the rightfield corner, jumping on a 2-0 slider from Brubaker and scoring two. The next batter, shortstop Kyle Farmer, doubled the lead with a bloop singleinto left-center.
The big bang came courtesy of catcher Tucker Barnhart, who hit a three-run homer halfway up the rightfield seats. The pitch was classified as a slider, although it looked more like a changeup and simply sat in themiddle of the plate.
Cincinnati tacked on two more in the second thanks to a solo homer from left fielder Jesse Winker and a run-scoring single from Farmer. Winker got a low-and-outside sinker and drove it with powerthe opposite way.
“They’re built to swing the bats, and they’re built for this ballpark,” Shelton said. “I thinkthey’re showing that.”
ThePirates, obviously, are not.They couldn’t do much of anything against Reds starter Wade Miley, who scattered six singles, walked twoand struck out five.
The Pirates got two hits apiece from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Rodolfo Castro but little else. Hoy Park, who replaced BryanReynolds late, doubled to increase his average with the Pirates to .462 (6 for 13). Park has an extra-base hit in fourof those five games.