It seemed almost unfair. Dee Gordon, the Miami Marlins’ former National League batting champion, saw three consecutive 99 mph fastballs from left-hander Felipe Rivero before he spotted a slider aimed at his belt. Gordon backed away from home plate, scooting his spikes to the edge of the batter’s box, and then the pitch took a right turn and crossed for strike three.
Rivero strutted off the mound, and Gordon flung his bat to the dirt.
The Pirates’ reworked bullpen blueprint functioned flawlessly in their 7-6 come-from-behind win Saturday at PNC Park. A day after left-hander Tony Watson was displaced as the closer, the offense overcame a short, shaky start from right-hander Trevor Williams and handed manager Clint Hurdle a lead. Hurdle, who has declined to name a closer, put his plan into motion.
After the Pirates stole ahead in a three-run seventh, Hurdle called for right-hander Juan Nicasio in the eighth. After a pair of strikeouts and singles, Rivero entered to attempt a four-out save. He has been used often in multiple-inning situations this season, and three of the next four hitters due up for the Marlins were left-handers. Hurdle employed a new-school bullpen philosophy.
“We’re going to use the bullpen to win games, not count saves,” Hurdle said, adding Nicasio certainly could have finished the eighth. “You’ve got the guy down there [Rivero] who is loaded and ready to go with some time down. Put him on Gordon and go. It’s left on left.
“Go with your best. He’s been our best.”
The ending sequence was repetitive and electric. Rivero caught Gordon looking to end the eighth. In the ninth, Ichiro Suzuki whiffed, Christian Yelich whiffed and Marcell Ozuna grounded out. Rivero threw 12 of 14 pitches for strikes, and four were swings and misses. His ERA, fourth-lowest in the majors entering the day, dropped to 0.56 after his first save.
When asked whether it’s fun to watch the silly swings he so often induces, Rivero laughed and replied, “I try to keep that to myself. I saw those swings and started laughing inside. I’m like …” He paused and grimaced. “It looks nasty from my side. I don’t know about the hitters. If I’m hitting, I don’t know what it looks like. I want to see what it looks like, but I don’t want to.”
The Pirates (27-35) had 16 hits, and needed every last one. They were primarily powered by their 5-6-7 hitters. Josh Bell was 3 for 4 with a triple. Andrew McCutchen was 3 for 4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Elias Diaz had three singles and walked, then scored the tying run.
“We were out there,” Hurdle said. “We made pitching hard for them.”
McCutchen’s RBI doubles raised his batting average to .247 and brought him to 500 extra-base hits in his career. He is the eighth Pirates player to reach that mark, joining Willie Stargell, Honus Wagner, Paul Waner, Roberto Clemente, Pie Traynor, Max Carey and Dave Parker.
Facing right-hander David Phelps in the seventh, McCutchen’s dribbled a single to third base. Diaz walked, and Mercer ripped a fly ball to center field. Yelich, racing onto the warning track, seemed to have a bead on it. He snared the ball, then dropped it and crashed into the fence.
"He almost made a hell of a play, to be honest,” Mercer said. “Luckily, it went out way.”
After Mercer’s two-run triple tied the game, Jaso laced a pinch-hit, go-ahead double to right. He improved to 5 for 13 in pinch-hitting chances this season and, Hurdle reminded reporters after the game, “We were having a different discussion the first month of the season.”
Williams was charged with five runs on six hits in four innings. He allowed three runs in the first inning, then seemed to settle in before J.T. Realmuto and Derek Dietrich homered back to back in the fourth.
“The misfires, we’re paying for,” Hurdle said. “We’re not executing soft stuff. We’re leaving it up. It’s getting hammered.”
Right-hander Edgar Santana debuted in the fifth and allowed a run, though it was due in part to Realmuto’s hard grounder which bounced past David Freese at third base. The play was ruled an RBI double, not an error by Freese, who also threw a ball away earlier in the game. Five relievers struck out nine batters over five innings of one-run baseball, ending the game.
“When you’ve got a good bullpen, you can’t take it for granted,” Hurdle said.
Rivero stayed late to set off the fireworks.
“To see it on display in the ninth, with the crowd on their feet, it’s going to give him a little extra juice, which he doesn’t need,” Mercer said. He referenced the earlier at-bat which concluded with Gordon gaping at strike three. “Ninety-nine [mph], 99, 99 then the slider? Come on.”
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: June 10, 2017, 11:21 p.m.