Anything but a routine win
Despite mistakes, Triolo’s RBI single and bullpen pull out season-opening victory
MIAMI — They won’t all be like this. Good thing, too. Neither the Pirates nor their fans could take 161 more games of what transpired Thursday during an opening day victory few will forget.
One look said a whole bunch following the Pirates’ 6-5 victory against the Marlins in 12 innings at loanDepot Park. Inside his office following a 3-hour, 24-minute hot mess of a game that surely cost him a few gray hairs, Pirates manager Derek Shelton could only shake his head and smile.
“They say play for 27 outs,” Shelton said.
“I’m not smart enough to do the math. I don’t know how many extra ones there were. But we played through the whole game, which was important.”
The game’s hero, Jared Triolo, represented a microcosm of what the Pirates endured.
Through 11 innings, Triolo had a first opening day that he probably would’ve rather forgotten, one that included a rare error, two strikeouts and five largely unproductive trips to the plate.
But in the top of the 12th, Triolo’s flare of a single into right field scored Ke’Bryan Hayes from third base, pushing the Pirates in front by a run. Jose Hernandez, recalled earlier in the day from Triple- A Indianapolis, capped a tremendous effort from the bullpen by nailing down the save.
“Tough win there,” Triolo said, grinning. “First one’s the hardest. Got it out of the way.”
Yeah, right. It’s all downhill from here.
The only problem was that for much of this one, the Pirates looked like Clark Griswold riding a greasedup sled in “Christmas Vacation,” clipping trees and somehow averting complete catastrophe.
Triolo, normally among the more sure- handed Pirates players, fumbled a flip from Oneil Cruz in the
second inning. Mitch Keller failed to set his feet and turn a routine double play an inning later.
At the plate, Triolo and Cruz recorded back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth inning, both looking, to end the frame, while the Pirates for much of the afternoon probably couldn’t have touched Jesus Luzardo (8 strikeouts, 18 whiffs) with a boat paddle.
“Mistakes happen,” Triolo said. “It adds to the grit of what that game was.”
Added Shelton, “I was happy that we kept grinding through at-bats,” likely acknowledging the eight walks drawn by his players.
Triolo’s turnaround was also hardly the extent of it.
In extra innings, the Pirates were twice thrown out at home plate by Josh Bell — yes, that Josh Bell, who has definitely not had an arm transplant since the Pirates traded him.
The same as the fielding and the approach at the plate — the Pirates struck out an astounding 17 times — running into unnecessary outs on the bases will have to change. Soon, obviously.
At the same time, the Pirates do get the luxury of making those tweaks after a victory.
“We did some things we have to clean up,” Shelton said. “But overall we came out with a win because they continued to play.”
There were several more reasons why the Pirates came out with a win.
Triolo’s soft liner of a single to right gave them the final run they needed, but Hernandez sat the Marlins down in order in the 12th to seal it. There’s more with him, too.
Hernandez wasn’t here as recently as Wednesday, optioned to Triple-A, the odd man out in a bullpen in flux due to injury. Further complicating matters, David Bednar was unavailable due to his return from right lat soreness.
But when Roansy Contreras went on the paternity leave list, across the state of Florida came Hernandez.
“It was a rushed day, for sure, but we’re professionals,” Hernandez said, with major league coach Stephen Morales translating. “We get here, we find a way to do our job and help the team win. That’s what happened.”
Again, hardly a comprehensive list. Keep going.
Rewind more, and you’ll get to Luis Ortiz, who many thought would’ve broken camp in the starting rotation. He did not, finishing behind Bailey Falter. No big thing. Ortiz shifted to the bullpen, which may suit him well. Ortiz saw his sinker average 2 more mph out of the ‘ pen ( 97.8 mph), and he earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief.
The right-hander worked around a couple walks and also benefitted from Connor Joe going all starfish on everyone to catch a Cruz throw, completing a key double play in the 10th.
“We saw 98 and 99 mph,” Shelton said of Ortiz. “I don’t think we’ve seen that in a while. He went right after people, which was really cool.”
Pirates pitchers held twotime batting champ Luis Arraez without a hit in six atbats for the first time in his career.
Josh Fleming got out of a jam. Ryan Borucki got four outs. Aroldis Chapman delivered a quick ninth.
The Pirates also hit three homers, with Bryan Reynolds (two-run shot in the third), Edward Olivares (solo in the seventh) and Cruz (solo in the eighth) doing the honors.
For Cruz, it was his second consecutive opening day with a bomb — and this one had to feel good given it was his first MLB game in almost a year following his ankle injury.
“It always feels good to be back with this group,” Cruz said. “A lot of tough moments last year not being able to be on the field, but now that I’m out there, it’s all good.
“I’m happy to be out there with our team, win and get us in a good spot.”
Mitch Keller, whose velocity was once again down a tick or two, delivered a so-so start (5 2/3 innings, 4 earned runs), and the Pirates for a stretch seemed dead set on finding new ways to torpedo scoring chances. However, to their credit, they stayed in the fight.
Long enough for the bullpen — down three of their top five and closing the game with two guys nobody thought would be in this situation as recently as a week ago — to amass 6 1/3 scoreless innings and pave the way for one of the team’s more improbable wins in recent years.
“It’s a team effort,” Cruz said. “Not just hitting. It was everything combined. Timely hitting, just moving the runners when we needed to move the runners. Pitchers doing their job for us to get a chance to show our defense. Just a group effort, for sure.”