PITTSBURGH — This season was supposed to be about the Pirates employing a left-handed hitter with a pretty and powerful swing, one capable of crushing homers and sending the PNC Park crowd home happy. Shoot, this homestead was supposed to be about that stuff.
But while the fan waits and stirs and pants over the imminent arrival of Oneil Cruz, it’s probably best to stop and appreciate the prize the Pirates seemed to have found along the way: Jack Suwinski has been really good and might legitimately contend for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
With the Pirates looking to salvage a game from the San Francisco Giants on Father’s Day, Suwinski hit a pair of solo homers for the first multi-homer effort of his career and the first for Pittsburgh this season. The loud swings combined with another strong start from Mitch Keller to drive a 4-3 walkoff victory on a sun-splashed Sunday.
After Giants second baseman Thairo Estrada homered off David Bednar to open the top of the ninth, Suwinski did the same off Tyler Rogers in the bottom half, crushing a walkoff homer to right — his third of the game — to send the Pirates home winners.
Suwinski became the second rookie in Pirates history to hit three home runs in a single game, joining Andrew McCutchen who did it Aug. 1, 2009 against the Nationals. The homer off Rogers came on a 1-1 slider that he ripped to right-center field.
The Pirates and Giants were tied at 2 when Suwinski stepped to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning. Facing lefty reliever Sam Long, Suwinski got a 96-mph fastball over the heart of the plate and cranked it 415 feet to right-center, the ball bouncing high off the Riverwalk as the crowd erupted.
Suwinski’s smooth swing showed his ability to back-spin the ball and create loft. It also showed his comfortability late in counts. Of the 10 home runs Suwinski has hit this season, six have come with two strikes.
For further context, only three Pirates rookies since 2000 have hit more home runs with two strikes for an entire season, a group headlined by Jason Bay’s 12 such homers in 2004.
On the pitching side, it’s hard to not feel encouraged by what Mitch Keller has done lately, specifically since rejoining the rotating and regularly deploying his sinker. What’s more, Keller has also gotten good at making in-game adjustments.
After a rough first inning on Sunday, Keller settled down and gave the Pirates six innings of two-run ball, with only one of those runs earned. He walked three, hit a batter and struck out four while lowering his season ERA to 4.72.
Along with the emergence of Suwinski, Keller’s turnaround since a brief stint in the bullpen has been one of the feel-good stories of the season for the Pirates, with Keller posting a 2.54 ERA with 24 strikeouts against 14 walks over his past six games (four starts).
Keller has now allowed two or fewer earned runs in four consecutive starts since he rejoined the rotation.
Trailing by two early, the Pirates tied the score with a pair of solo home runs from Hoy Park and Suwinski. Park’s was his first of the season, and it gave the Pirates 16 different players with a homer. Only the Giants (17) have more.
Facing San Francisco starter Alex Cobb, Park got a 2-2 sinker up in the zone and pulled it over the fence in right-center, an encouraging development for the Pirates after Park had hit just .227 through 10 games this season.
Suwinski followed the next inning with a dinger that came in similar fashion — a 1-0 sinker up, the left-hander pulling his a little more toward right. Only four Pirates rookies, including Josh Bell and Bay, have hit more homers before the All-Star break than Suwinski.
It seems Suwinski really loves hitting at PNC Park, too. Over his past 12 games here, Suwinski is
It’s also been notable what Suwinski has done with the short porch in right field at PNC Park. In his previous 10 games here, Suwinski was hitting .313 (10 for 32) with three doubles and four home runs.
The Giants scored in the first inning in all three games of this series and picked up two runs Sunday thanks to several miscues on the part of the Pirates.
Park committed an error on a ball hit by San Francisco’s leadoff man, right fielder Luis Gonzalez, then Keller walked a pair. Left fielder Joe Pederson put the Giants in front, 2-0, when he dribbled a ball the opposite way, toward shortstop, and beat the shift.
Keller hit second baseman Thairo Estrada in what was the exact opposite of a pinpoint inning before making an adjustment and facing the minimum through the next three.
Even in the fourth, Gonzalez tripled into the left field corner, past a diving Suwinski, but Keller saved any further damage by getting center fielder Mike Yastrzemski to bounce out to first base.
