Jack Suwinski’s walk-off home run lifts Pirates to comeback win over Diamondbacks
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After hitting the first walk-off home run of his career and receiving a celebratory ice bath, Jack Suwinski couldn’t suppress his smile. On Faith Night at PNC Park, he turned Pirates fans into believers.
Just when the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie outfielder was satisfied with extending his ninth-inning at-bat against Arizona Diamondbacks closer Mark Melancon to nine pitches, Suwinski took a swing that was a sure thing.
Suwinski sent Melancon’s full-count curveball 406 feet over the Clemente Wall for a two-run homer to clinch a 2-1 comeback win before a crowd of 19,149 on Saturday afternoon at PNC Park.
“It was awesome. Cool experience,” Suwinski said. “That’s the stuff you think about playing Wiffle ball in your backyard. That’s my first time doing that, so it was pretty, pretty cool. Pretty special.”
Pirates OF Jack Suwinski talks about hitting his first walk-off home run — of his life — to clinch a 2-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. pic.twitter.com/tYWG4pJVDD
— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) June 4, 2022
After fouling off four pitches, Suwinski had a good feeling when he connected with the curve for his sixth career home run.
“Yeah, it felt pretty good. I was like 99% sure,” Suwinski said. “I was just fired up I was able to extend that at-bat. That was a win in itself to fight off some of those pitches and compete with them. Then to be able to win it like that was special.”
Pirates OF Jack Suwinski talks about his nine-pitch at bat in the ninth and how he had a good idea his walk-off was going over the fence. pic.twitter.com/pnn10y7eHo
— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) June 4, 2022
It was a rousing victory for Pirates rookies, between the start by right-hander Roansy Contreras and the ending provided by Suwinski.
“We saw two rookies do something really special,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Ro was really good. He executed the entire game. … He was really good. He was consistent. He was in the zone. He was composed. Then for Jack to have that big of an at-bat off an All-Star closer, it’s really cool to see with young players.”
Contreras received a roaring ovation when he exited with two outs in the sixth inning after another electric performance that saw him strike out eight and allow four hits and two walks.
His final pitch, however, proved costly.
After giving up a leadoff double to Ketel Marte, Contreras got Christian Walker to ground to short. Rodolfo Castro was charged with an error when he booted the ball and his hurried throw pulled Yu Chang’s foot off the bag, which allowed Marte to advance to third. The Pirates lost a challenge when a video review upheld the call.
After striking out David Peralta, Contreras conducted a 10-pitch battle with Jordan Luplow. After working a full count, Luplow fouled off five consecutive pitches before Contreras threw a wild pitch for ball four that allowed Marte to score and give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead.
“When I evaluate that at-bat, what I look at is that we were both competing, you know what I mean?” Contreras said. “He was giving his best. I was giving my best. I could notice that we were both competing against one another. I was really going for a strikeout, trying to punch him out. However, you guys saw the results. It was a wild pitch and didn’t work in my favor.”
Castro’s error was his second blunder as the rookie shortstop killed one of the Pirates’ best scoring chances with lackadaisical effort. After Michael Chavis singled to start the second, Castro hit a pop fly to first and walked down the first-base line holding his bat.
Diamondbacks first baseman Walker waved for the ball, then allowed it to drop at his feet. He quickly stepped on first to get Castro out, then caught Chavis in a rundown for a 3-4-6-4 double play.
Instead of having a runner on base, the bases were empty when Cal Mitchell doubled down the right-field line. Mitchell was stranded at second when Tucupita Marcano grounded out to pitcher Zach Davies.
Where Shelton was understanding about the fielding error, he was unforgiving and critical of Castro about the mental lapse on the pop fly.
“It’s not acceptable,” Shelton said. “It’s not how we play.”
Where Contreras threw 65 of his 98 pitches for strikes, Davies allowed only two hits — both in the second inning — before running into trouble in a 22-pitch eighth inning.
After getting a pair of groundouts, Davies started by walking Marcano. The Pirates used Daniel Vogelbach to pinch-hit for Chang, who has seven strikeouts in nine at-bats since being claimed off waivers from Cleveland, and Vogelbach singled to left. Davies then walked Michael Perez, who had struck out twice, to load the bases.
Davies was replaced by Ian Kennedy to face Ke’Bryan Hayes, who was batting .333 with the bases loaded in his career. Kennedy got Hayes swinging at a 1-2 fastball for a strikeout to escape the jam.
The Diamondbacks turned to Melancon in the ninth, which started with a Bryan Reynolds single to right. That’s set the stage for Suwinski’s sixth homer and his first career walk-off.
“That was a heck of a victory,” Shelton said. “It’s pretty cool because, man, the crowd was into it, too. I have to give our fans a ton of credit. The eighth and ninth inning, they were extremely engaged. That was really cool to see.”