As he’s seemed to do many times to his hometown team, Ian Happ got the best of the Pirates.
Happ, a product of Mt. Lebanon High School, flared a single to right-center off Thomas Hatch in the 10th inning that plated two in the Pirates’ 5-4 loss to the Cubs in 10 innings Thursday evening.
Happ was only credited with one RBI on the play, with the trailing runner in Dansby Swanson coming around to score after Connor Joe bobbled the ball in right. Manager Derek Shelton commented after the game that Joe was not going to catch the ball that dropped in for a hit despite it hanging in the air for a good chunk of time.
“It looks like [Joe] lost it on the exchange,” Shelton said. “He secured the ball. As he tried to get it out of his glove, it looked like it popped out.”
The Pirates scratched one run across off Cubs closer Adbert Alzolay in the bottom half, but that was only because of Joe’s sacrifice fly that drove in the phantom runner that started the inning at second.
Had Joe made a clean play on Happ’s single, perhaps the Pirates would have been able to prolong the game. But Shelton held the opinion that the Pirates would ultimately need to put up more than a single tally to get past the Cubs.
“In extra-inning games, you know you have to score multiple runs because of what happened: ground ball, fly ball, and all of a sudden it’s one run,” Shelton said. “It’s one of those things that, on the exchange, he mishandled the ball.”
An inning prior, it was quite the inverse for the Pirates defense. Mike Tauchman hit a chopper over David Bednar’s head with a runner at second and two away. Alika Williams’ only play was to bare-hand the ball and fire it to first, which he did so successfully in one seamless motion to give the Pirates a chance to walk it off.
“That’s a great play,” Shelton said. “That’s an elite play with a guy going down the line hard. To go bare-hand and pick it, it was an outstanding play.”
Pinch-hitter Jack Suwinski led off with a walk, and it looked like he would be headed for scoring position if not for a sensational defensive effort by Cubs catcher Yan Gomes.
Alfonso Rivas popped up a bunt attempt down the third-base line, and Gomes laid out for the ball and had it bounce off his catcher’s mitt before corralling it with his right hand. Even so, Ji Hwan Bae walked a couple batters later to put a runner in scoring position for Ke’Bryan Hayes with two away.
Hayes put a charge into an elevated fastball from Daniel Palencia, but not quite enough, as it was chased down at the warning track by Cubs center fielder Cody Bellinger. Per Statcast, Hayes’ flyout traveled 386 feet, which would have been a home run ironically only at Wrigley Field.
But at PNC Park, Hayes’ home-run-hopeful swing was nothing more than a flyout in the scorecard, in turn giving the Cubs all they’d need in another chance at the plate.
ON THE MOUND
While left-hander Rob Zastryzny was the headliner in that he started the game, it was reliever Andre Jackson who set the tone for the Pirates pitching staff. He entered for Zastryzny in the second as the bulk man on a bullpen game and covered a career-high six innings, besting his previous MLB best of 4 ⅔ innings for the Dodgers in 2021.
“I think that’s the deepest I’ve been in a game in a long time,” Jackson said. “So, for me, it’s big to try to give ourselves a chance to win.”
After a troublesome opening inning of work in which he gave up his only two runs of the game, Jackson responded with clean frames the rest of the way. From the third inning onward, Jackson yielded just two base runners while striking out a pair.
Jackson relied heavily on his four-seam fastball, throwing it over 50% of the time, per Baseball Savant. He noticed the Cubs’ hitters being a “little passive” on his fastballs early in the game, which prompted him to throw them more frequently.
By throwing ample fastballs, Jackson was also able to deploy an effective changeup that generated four whiffs from Cubs hitters in nine swings.
“I keep that in my back pocket. It helps me a little bit,” Jackson said of his changeup. “I haven’t had to throw a lot of changeups. It doesn’t give hitters a chance to see it a lot. Just try to move the heater around and mess up their timing.”
In five games with the Pirates, Jackson has produced a 3.32 ERA in 19 innings. Two of those appearances have been as a starter and three as a reliever.
Regardless of the role he’s been thrust into so far with the Pirates, Jackson has provided Shelton with a reliable arm in a small sample size.
“I’ve been pitching in a lot of different roles this year,” Jackson said. “The one objective, always, is to get as many outs as you can as efficient as you can.”
AT THE PLATE
The Pirates were tasked with quite the challenging chore in Cubs left-hander Justin Steele, who entered the evening in a three-way tie for the MLB lead in wins with 14. Despite falling behind 3-0 in the first two innings, their offense stormed back to even the tally.
With two away in the second, Bae shot a single up the middle on a hanging Steele slider to plate Endy Rodriguez, who had led off the inning with a walk.
The Pirates struck again just four batters later when Joshua Palacios hit a game-tying two-run homer to right, a no-doubter that traveled 420 feet per Statcast. Steele grooved an up-and-in fastball to Palacios, who turned on the pitch and deposited it well beyond the seats hanging above the Clemente Wall for his sixth homer of the year.
“Knew we got that one,” Palacios said. “Felt pretty good there. Had a plan and we executed. I was happy about that.”
It’s been a mixed bag of a month for Palacios, considering he’s just 6 for 53 with 13 strikeouts. He’s also provided plenty of pop in August, smashing four home runs and a double.
While hitting for average has escaped Palacios as of late, he’s content with the direction of his swing these days. It’s allowed him to hit a number of balls out to right field like his four-bagger Thursday night.
“It's very inviting. It's nice out there,” Palacios said of right field. “I like how close it is. It's a little high but working on getting under the ball over there and it's been working out.”
BULLPEN SHUFFLE
In order to bring up Zastryzny from Triple-A to make his first MLB appearance since June 15, right-hander Yohan Ramirez was optioned to Indianapolis. To make room on the 40-man roster for Zastryzny, who was designated for assignment earlier this season, the Pirates transferred left-hander Angel Perdomo from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL.
The move comes in light of another from before Wednesday’s contest, one which saw right-hander Dauri Moreta also head to Indianapolis. Shelton said with both moves, it came down to needing pitchers that were available to throw in light of the Pirates currently operating with limited starting options.
“When we’re having a situation where we’re using guys out of the bullpen, there’s going to be times when guys are not available,” Shelton said. “When we need to go to somebody, we’re going to option somebody. I mean, Yohan did a good job yesterday. It’s just sometimes it comes down to availability.”
QUOTABLE
“He’s thrown the ball really well,” Shelton said of Jackson. “It’s reassuring that you have that guy in that bulk role who can not only give you six innings, but he was pretty efficient doing it.”
UP NEXT
Mitch Keller gets the ball for the Pirates on Friday evening, fresh off a 12-strikeout performance against the Twins. Kyle Hendricks, who possesses a career 3.69 ERA against the Pirates, will take the hill for the Cubs.
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1
First Published: August 25, 2023, 2:00 a.m.
Updated: August 25, 2023, 1:19 p.m.
