PITTSBURGH — Roansy Contreras has a long way to go and a lot of years to succeed before he turns in anything approaching Jose Quintana’s career.
Friday, however, in an 8-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Contreras tipped his cap to his former teammate. Contreras normally warms up to “Dark Knight Dummo” by Trippie Redd. This time, he switched it up, using “Mueve Mami” by Aldo Ranks. That was Quintana’s warmup music while with the Pirates earlier this season, and the veteran enjoyed the nod, tipping his cap to the rookie Contreras from the visiting dugout.
Then, Contreras put together a start Quintana would be proud of. He used 96 pitches to get through 5 1/3 innings, allowing just four hits and two walks.
Obviously, that isn’t perfect. Contreras could have gone deeper if he could have been more efficient. He also didn’t get many favors from his defense. In the top of the first, he induced a weak foul pop-up from Cardinals infielder Tommy Edman, but his catcher, Jason Delay, dropped it up the third-base line.
In the second, Contreras got his lone strikeout against Tyler O’Neill, but Delay couldn’t block it and O’Neill reached on the wild pitch. In the fourth, Contreras gave up a two-out double, issued a walk then got a weak hopper right in front of the plate that Delay couldn’t handle.
Yet, the right-hander battled through all of that. He got weak contact to end the first, second and fourth. The only time the Cardinals got to him was in the sixth, when his pitch count was running higher. A leadoff double put Paul Goldschmidt on second. He moved to third on a single from Nolan Arenado, got an RBI fielder’s choice for the first out then walked another before getting pulled.
Left-hander Manny Banuelos came in and got Albert Pujols to bounce into an inning-ending double play. So, no, it wasn’t perfect, but it was another example of the type of battle-ready, veteran-like mindset Contreras possesses on the mound.
Even when things aren’t ideal, he’s battled for the Pirates, and this outing against the first-place Cardinals lowered his season ERA to 3.29, the best among Pirates starters since Quintana was sent away at the deadline.
Contreras was aided by his offense, though. In the second, the Pirates jumped out to an early one-run lead when designated hitter Ben Gamel went deep to dead center.
In the fifth, Contreras’ fellow rookie Oneil Cruz pitched in. With runners on first and second, Cruz got a fastball down the middle and smoked it to the gap in left-center, good for a stand-up, two-run triple. He struck out twice, showing there is more work to become a complete player at the plate, but after a 3-for-5 effort, Cruz is now hitting .400 with an OPS over 1.200 in September. His season numbers have bumped up to .226 and .730, respectively.
Cruz scored a batter later on an RBI single from Bryan Reynolds, then the offense fully exploded in the eighth. Another two-run triple from Michael Chavis and a single one batter later from Cal Mitchell plated three more runs. That’s when Cruz pitched in another RBI on a 117.7 mph single to right, his third-hardest-hit ball of the season, as he continues to rewrite the Pirates’ Statcast record books.
That was more than enough run support for Contreras and the relievers that followed him.
The Pirates certainly miss Quintana and his steady veteran presence now that he’s a Cardinal, but the reason for that trade a couple months ago remains the Pirates’ modus operandi moving forward: They will live and die with their young players as they develop the rest of the year. On Saturday, at least, they lived big behind Contreras and Cruz.
