These days, Roansy Contreras has the confidence to throw his slider whenever deemed necessary. Don’t get it twisted, however; it’s quite effective simply as an out pitch, as Thursday night proved.
All eight of Contreras’ strikeouts came via his slider in the 23-year-old right-hander’s second straight stellar outing in the Pirates’ 4-3 win against the Reds. The eight punchouts tied for the second-most in an MLB game for Contreras, whose career high of 10 was set against the New York Yankees last season.
“He had that wipeout slider today and guys weren’t making adjustments on it,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “Sometimes, you have to assume good hitters are going to make adjustments and sometimes you have to be like, ‘Hey, here it is. You haven’t hit it yet.’ He did a good job of that today.”
Not only did Contreras deploy the pitch in strikeout situations, but he used it quite frequently; more than 50% of his 93 pitches against the Reds were sliders, a far cry from the 34% usage rate of last season. In fact, Contreras has thrown his slider more than any other pitch this season, doing so at a 42.7% clip entering Thursday night, per Statcast.
“I feel pretty comfortable with the slider right now as my second pitch,” Contreras said through team translator Stephen Morales. “That’s given me the confidence to throw it anytime in any count.”
Contreras, who said he trusts his slider more this year than last, credited the Pirates’ throwing programs for helping him sharpen the pitch. Hedges pointed to the modern era of the game requiring pitchers to throw sliders a whole lot more often than perhaps in prior decades.
“That’s probably the evolution of baseball right now. You’ve got to be able to spin the ball whenever you can,” Hedges said. “He showed today that he’s got the ability to do that.”
Contreras also turned to his rarely-used changeup a few times, which Hedges said was part of the game plan in an effort to generate the occasional quick out or two. Contreras had thrown just 11 changeups in his previous three starts.
That portion of Hedges’ executed game plan drew rave reviews from manager Derek Shelton.
"Hedges does an elite job of using a pitch mix and how we're going to mix in,” Shelton said. “He mixed in the changeup today, at some really appropriate times, so Hedgy did a really nice job with him."
Shelton noted that he’s picked up on a calmer, more mature version of Contreras this season. One such example of his smarts toeing the rubber was his efficiency, breezing through six relatively stress-free innings before the seventh frame that gave him a bit of trouble. Despite walking two batters, more than 64% of Contreras’ pitches were strikes.
“He did a really nice job,” Shelton said. “He attacked the zone. He went right after 'em.”
Regardless of giving up a run in his final inning of work, Contreras still turned in a quality start, marking back-to-back such appearances for him. It was also the 10th game in a row in which the Pirates got a quality start, a stat that during this current four-game win streak isn’t lost on Hedges.
“A ton of pride. That’s basically what the intent is,” Hedges said. “If we can get a quality start, that’s a winning performance.”
The collective work by the Pirates’ starters has brought about a healthy mindset from the group. Contreras said the members of the starting rotation, each of whom seems to be firing on all cylinders currently, are motivating one another to pitch well each night.
By holding up his end of the bargain, Contreras’ latest winning performance earned him some hardware, if you can call it that. Another Pirates prop emerged in the form of a Pikachu doll, which Contreras held while meeting with the media postgame.
“That’s the trophy,” Contreras said. “Every time you do good after the game, you get the Pikachu.”
Contreras said he didn’t get to take the plush toy home, but a smile broke out when asked which Pokémon was his favorite growing up. Naturally, the one between his hands was his answer.
The children’s plaything wasn’t the only thing Contreras couldn’t bring back to his place of residence, however. After giving up an RBI single to the Reds’ Jason Vosler — the only run Contreras permitted — he departed with passionate roars of approval from the crowd of 14,051 filling PNC Park.
“It’s really good knowing that fans are behind you,” Contreras said. “It feels really good to come out that way.”
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1.
First Published: April 21, 2023, 2:59 a.m.