Outside of color scheme or perhaps an affinity for Pittsburgh baseball fans, there’s little bonding the Hall of Famers the Pirates honored on Saturday night and the group currently playing for the team. Salaries are different. Workloads, too. The job has also never been more transient.
However, whether you’re 95 or 25, there’s one thing about baseball that remains true throughout: It’s tough to win when you fail to throw strikes.
The Pirates got an unwanted reminder of that during their 10-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Hall of Fame night at PNC Park, where a lack of strike-throwing felt awfully costly once Pittsburgh rallied with a five-run outburst late.
After Colin Selby opened with six consecutive outs, three via strikeout, Osvaldo Bido took over in the third and struggled with his control. Bido pitching behind in counts and walking guys ultimately led to a brutal balance of seven outs recorded and eight earned runs allowed.
"He just looked like he was over-rotating and kind of rushing the ball against his arm side," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. "He just didn’t have the command we’ve seen him have previously.”
Bido did not command his four-seam fastball or sinker and walked four in a five-batter stretch. Two of those forced in runs to push the Cubs in front, 2-1, before first baseman Cody Bellinger grounded out to second base to bring home another Cubs run.
Chicago, which is 9-1-1 in its past 11 series and 26-11 in its past 37 games, pulled further ahead with a five-run fifth, the biggest hit at the time coming from a familiar place: Mt. Lebanon native Ian Happ.
It actually wasn’t a terrible pitch from Bido, a slider low and away, and Happ hooked it into the right-field corner, past a diving Connor Joe at first base. It gave Happ 17 doubles and 31 RBIs in his past 39 games against his hometown team.
Bellinger, Suzuki and Jeimer Candelario knocked in runs during a five-run fifth that ripped this game open for the Cubs. One that should also throw into question how the Pirates are allocating opportunity with Bido.
His ERA now stands at 6.36. In 46 2/3 innings, Bido has allowed 52 hits while walking 20 and hitting eight. While his number of strikeouts (44) has been solid, we've seen little to indicate that he deserves to be used in any sort of regular pseudo-starter role.
As for the Pirates’ offense, it was a strange night: Ke'Bryan Hayes ripped a leadoff homer, but the Pirates largely struggled against Cubs starter Jordan Wicks, who was making his MLB debut and retired the final 15 men he faced. But with right-hander Hayden Wesneski in the game in the seventh inning, the Pirates stormed back.
Liover Peguero’s sacrifice fly made it an 8-2 game. Alika Williams drove a sweeper to left, 8-3.
Hayes shot a single to the opposite field to nudge the Pirates to within four, and Bryan Reynolds followed with a double into the right-field corner — on a splitter that Mark Leiter Jr. left up and out over the plate.
"[Wicks] was tough, but once he got out of the game, we had good at-bats and got back to our process," Josh Palacios said. "I think when we do that, we're a pretty hard team to deal with offensively."
The narrow deficit teased, but Chicago further distanced itself in the ninth. Right fielder Seiya Suzuki cracked a two-run double off Thomas Hatch to give the Cubs some extra breathing room.
Saturday’s loss dropped the Pirates’ overall record to 58-72. They’re also just 1-8 against the Cubs this season.
ON THE MOUND
Selby was making his first start since Aug. 2, 2022, when he was with Double-A Altoona, in a game where Carmen Mlodzinski actually came on in relief. This was the best Selby, who had 13 strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings prior to Saturday, has looked as a Pirate.
The right-hander struck out the first two men he faced, center fielder Mike Tauchman and shortstop Dansby Swanson, the first on a sinker and the second on a slider. Selby froze Suzuki on a terrific sinker the following frame.
"Just trying to keep the team in the game early and get outs efficiently," Selby said. "Just try and go as long as they would allow me."
From the sound of it, as the Pirates get more non-traditional with pitching assignments, it's a role that Selby could occupy again.
But as good as Selby was, Bido really struggled. It’s also fair to wonder if the Pirates don’t have a better option in Triple-A the next time his bulk spot comes up. Whether it’s Quinn Priester or Roansy Contreras, the Pirates do have other options.
AT THE PLATE
Hayes’ leadoff homer was excellent. It came on an up-and-in heater from Wicks. It also continued his career-high total (15) for RBIs in a month. He later added No. 16 on a single in the seventh.
The Pirates third baseman has now hit safely in 14 of his past 16 starts, going 25 for 69 (.362) with five doubles, a triple, five home runs and 15 RBIs during that time.
However, after Hayes’ blast, the Pirates got a single and a walk, then nothing.
Wicks, with a terrific changeup that he threw 34% of the time, bounced back in a big way, striking out nine of the next 12 Pittsburgh hitters. He finished with 13 whiffs over five innings of one-run ball, along with 16 called strikes.
Wicks’ changeup featured about a 10-mph drop, and it seemed to give the Pirates fits.
"The changeup has a ton of down action to it, and he did a nice job with it," Shelton said.
Added Palacios: "He was putting it in the right locations and made good pitches. For a lot of us, it was the first time seeing it. So tip your cap and go back, watch some video and try to make some adjustments."
QUOTABLE
"Whatever they need me to do, I'm gonna do it." — Selby on his role going forward
UP NEXT
Bailey Falter will make his fifth appearance (fourth start) as a member of the Pirates, and the left-hander has not fared well against the Cubs throughout his career, going 0-1 with a 9.35 ERA in four career appearances while with the Phillies.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: August 27, 2023, 2:31 a.m.
Updated: August 27, 2023, 2:58 a.m.
