Cal Mitchell's 1st major league homer boosts Pirates to shutout of Diamondbacks

Sundays are Kids Days at PNC Park, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Pittsburgh Pirates relied on their rookies.

Cal Mitchell crushed his first major-league home run, Jack Suwinski hit a pair of doubles and Diego Castillo drove him in with a sacrifice fly as the Pirates rolled to a 3-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon before 11,796 at PNC Park.

The Pirates scored their second shutout of the season for their second consecutive series win after a three-game sweep at the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the wave of newcomers has provided a boost.

With 2018 first-round pick Travis Swaggerty promoted to the majors before the game to become the seventh rookie on the 26-man roster, Shelton was asked if it was time to play the kids.

“I don’t know if that’s what we’re going with in terms of the motto,” Shelton said, “but it’s a situation where we have a bunch of them here, and they’re going to play.”

Starter Zach Thompson (3-4) allowed four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in five innings, and relievers Wil Crowe, Anthony Banda, Chris Stratton and David Bednar (10th save) gave up one hit over the final four innings.

But the story of this game was the play of the rookies, as Suwinski went 3 for 4 a day after his two-run walk-off homer, Mitchell went 2 for 3 with the homer and Castillo added the RBI sac fly.

“It’s exciting not only for us but for the entire organization because there are a lot of people who pour into what they’re doing and how they’re doing,” Shelton said. “Any time we check a box, man, it’s cool. With Cal especially, I think because he’s our guy and there’s a lot of people invested in him, it was pretty sick to see that. It was nice because I thought Gallen was really good.”

Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen (4-1) held the Pirates scoreless through the first four innings, after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the second.

Tucupita Marcano drew a leadoff walk, Tyler Heineman beat out a bunt and Mitchell singled to set the table for the top of the order. But Ke’Bryan Hayes went down swinging on three pitches, lunging at a curveball in the dirt. Bryan Reynolds battled for an eight-pitch at-bat before looking at a called third strike on a fastball. Daniel Vogelbach grounded out to first base to end the rally.

Mitchell ended the drought in the fifth, driving Gallen’s 1-2 curve 370 feet over the Clemente Wall and into the right-field seats for his first career homer and a 1-0 Pirates lead.

Pirates OF Cal Mitchell on hitting his first major league home run in the fifth inning of the 3-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. pic.twitter.com/xJZ0YM4bdp

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) June 5, 2022

“I saw it great (with) a two-strike count, trying to make sure I put the ball in play, try to see something up in the strike zone and I got one,” Mitchell said. “At home, to put us up a run in a tied ballgame. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Suwinski doubled for the second time, a line drive to right field with one out in the sixth, and Castillo drove him in with a sacrifice fly to deep center to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

The veterans kicked in to make it 3-0 in the seventh, when catcher Tyler Heineman hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on Mitchell’s groundout and scored on a single to center by Hayes.

Mitchell, who did everything on Kids Day but run the bases afterwards, believes the Pirates rookies are showing they belong in the majors.

“It’s the future. It’s the new wave,” Mitchell said. “We’re all trying to come up here and learn as fast as we can so we can add value to the team as fast as we can. Today, we did that.”