PITTSBURGH — As the Pirates plotted ways to dig themselves out of a sizable funk, with losses in 11 of 12 games entering Sunday’s series finale in Baltimore, this likely wasn’t a course they charted. Facing opening day starters in three of the four subsequent contests, it looked like a recipe for disaster.
Instead, it has potentially sparked the Pirates’ season.
After they took care of the Orioles’ Kyle Gibson that afternoon and topped Eduardo Rodriguez of the Tigers on Wednesday in Detroit, they pulled a similar trick Friday against Arizona’s Zac Gallen during a 13-3 victory at PNC Park.
They did what pretty much nobody has done this season and handled Gallen, knocking him from the game in the fourth inning, a career-high eight runs (five earned) on his ledger.
How good has Gallen been of late? Check it out:
— He entered the game 6-0 in his previous seven starts with a 1.16 ERA.
— Opponents were hitting .172 against Gallen during that time, with four walks and 60 strikeouts.
— The 27-year-old right-hander hadn’t allowed a home run in his last 47 2/3 innings while earlier this season putting together a 28-inning scoreless streak.
Before the game, Pirates manager Derek Shelton talked about Gallen’s ability to command the ball both north-south and east-west. But for much of this night, Gallen was uncharacteristically wild.
He walked a season-high four, which included a free pass with the bases loaded to Bryan Reynolds during a seven-run Pirates fourth that broke the game open.
Rodriguez (1.57 ERA) was technically more dominant than Gallen when the Pirates faced him, but who’s counting, right? This lineup looked like the Pirates of April, with constant pressure applied and hitters working terrific pitch selection and patience into extra-base hits.
It also featured seven combined RBIs from Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes, who had just one between them from May 1-18.
Andrew McCutchen, again shifted into the leadoff spot, led the way with three hits and scored a pair of runs. Hayes, meanwhile, clobbered an elevated four-seamer off the center-field wall to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the second.
McCutchen and Hayes were two of four Pirates with three hits. They were joined by Ji Hwan Bae and Josh Palacios, who collected three RBIs (as did Hayes).
After Arizona shortstop Geraldo Perdomo hit what was actually a solid pitch from Johan Oviedo over the fence for a solo shot in the third, the Pirates got the sticks out in the fourth inning — and everybody hit.
Amazingly, the catalyst was a single the other way from Palacios, who had been 0 for 9 in his first five games as a Pirate. But Palacios did exactly what he should have done on a 1-1 change-up a touch below the zone, a terrific piece of hitting.
Reynolds’ bases-loaded walk extended the Pirates’ lead to 4-1 before Jack Suwinski drove in a pair with his double to right field. Suwinski roped a 1-1 fastball that was elevated. Hayes followed by taking a cutter up the middle for a two-run single and an 8-1 Pirates lead.
In the fifth, with Gallen out of the game, Reynolds worked a full count and hammered a hanging slider from lefty reliever Anthony Misiewicz, the ball traveling 407 feet at 109.6 mph into the left-field stands.
It was the sixth homer of the season for Reynolds and his first since April 7.
ON THE MOUND
Speaking to the Post-Gazette in Detroit, Oviedo promised a different version of himself. It didn’t take long to see what he meant. In delivering six stellar innings of one-run ball, Oviedo regularly relied on the sinker, with the pitch generating plenty of arm side movement, and it helped his entire mix work better.
Oviedo threw 55 of his 96 pitches for strikes while walking three and striking out seven. He still used his slider 50% of the time and occasionally threw a harder version of it that played almost like a cutter. It was clear that Oviedo’s pitches had the Diamondbacks guessing as 22 of them landed for called strikes.
After a stretch where Oviedo gave up 17 earned runs in three starts, he’s now had back-to-back outings where he’s allowed a total of just two earned runs.
AT THE PLATE
There were plenty of performances to highlight from this one, but we’ll start with the Reynolds homer. Speaking earlier in the Tigers series, Reynolds’ downplayed his lack of homers, explaining that they’ve seemingly always come in clumps.
“I’m still having a pretty normal season,” Reynolds said. “Just waiting for the next hot streak.”
It may have arrived. After three hits Wednesday, the home run was a familiar swing.
Ditto for McCutchen, who entered this one with hits in five of six, going 8 for 23 (.348) with a home run and four RBIs. His work out of the leadoff spot — he also walked in the fourth — has been hugely noticeable.
It’s been a weird stretch for Palacios, who was hitting .434 with four doubles, a triple, four home runs and 20 RBIs in 13 games with Indy when he was promoted. He had been ice cold before Friday.
Bae crushed a double in the fourth inning and beat out an infield single in the fifth, the MLB-high 12th one of those for him this season.
UP NEXT
Mitch Keller and Roansy Contreras will trade spots in the rotation. It’ll be Keller on Saturday, and Contreras will get an extra day of rest by going Sunday.
