Ke'Bryan Hayes' exit in 1st inning casts a cloud over opener, as Cardinals pound Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates celebrated Opening Day by agreeing to a historic contract extension with Ke’Bryan Hayes, only to hold their breath after watching the 25-year-old third baseman exit the game with an injury.

Just hours after agreeing to the richest contract in Pittsburgh Pirates history, an eight-year deal worth $70 million, Hayes was removed by medical staff in the bottom of the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals with a spasm of the left forearm.

Considering Hayes endured a left hand/wrist injury that bothered him last season, it cast a shadow over the opener, where the Cardinals pounded the Pirates, 9-0, on Thursday before 46,256 at Busch Stadium.

“Obviously, a tense moment when you go out and he’s cramped up and his thumb wouldn’t come back,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I talked to him mid-game, and he seemed like he was in a way better spot, so we just dealt with a cramp situation. Hopefully, we dodged a bullet.”

The Hayes contract is symbolic for the Pirates, representing a departure from their penny-pinching on payroll with an investment in their future.

The Pirates planned to formally announce the extension Tuesday before their home opener against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. The deal, however, is pending Hayes passing a physical.

Hayes told the Tribune-Review via text message that a “random muscle spasm” shot from his left thumb a third of the way down his forearm, comparing it to a cramp and saying he experienced “no pain anywhere.” He is day-to-day.

The Cardinals had taken a 1-0 lead after Dylan Carlson, who led off with a bloop double that Hayes lost to the wind despite diving in shallow left field, scored on a single up the middle by Tyler O’Neill. After the game, Hayes told reporters in St. Louis that his thumb cramped after he took his glove off between pitches. His thumb locked, and every time he tried to straighten it, the thumb would tighten back up. When Hayes couldn’t get the glove back on, he said, he waved to Shelton and trainer Rafael Freitas for assistance.

Finally, Hayes unrolled the wrap on his left hand and frowned as he walked to the dugout and exited the game.

“Coming off the ankle thing back in spring training, I was very, very excited to play today,” Hayes said, noting that his father, 14-year MLB veteran Charlie Hayes, was at the game. “Having to come out, it’s very unfortunate. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything serious. It was just a cramp, so I’m looking forward to getting back in there Saturday.”

Added Shelton: “That was the strangest thing. He didn’t feel it on the dive, then it just cramped up. But it happened in his thumb, which was really strange. I think we were all a little perplexed on it. But being out there, Rafa was trying to release the cramp and his thumb wouldn’t come back out. It was almost like it was just stuck forward.”

After hitting a two-run homer in the opener last year against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, Hayes injured the left hand/wrist on an awkward swing in the second game and was placed on the 60-day injured list.

The injury bothered him at the plate all year, and Hayes spent the offseason undergoing therapy to avoid surgery. He arrived at spring training with a new, two-handed follow-through on his swing, devised to protect his wrist on inside pitches that jam the right-handed hitter.

Rookie Diego Castillo, the sensation of spring training, replaced Hayes at third base and the three-hole in the batting order. Castillo was 0 for 3 with a strikeout and two groundouts in his major-league debut.

The Cardinals continued to take advantage of Pirates starter JT Brubaker, as Harrison Bader led off the second with a single and Paul Goldschmidt drew a two-out walk to set the stage for O’Neill’s 396-foot home run to left field for a 4-0 lead. It marked O’Neill’s third homer in an opener in as many seasons. Brubaker allowed four runs on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts, throwing 39 of his 68 pitches for strikes.

“I thought his stuff was actually pretty good,” Shelton said of Brubaker. “It’s just that he didn’t put it on the plate and got himself into a lot of bad counts. With his stuff, he’s got to work on the plate.”

Wil Crowe pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three and walking two before being replaced by Duane Underwood Jr. After giving up a double to Bader, however, Underwood exited with right hamstring discomfort. Carlson hit a sacrifice fly to center off Heath Hembree to score Bader to give the Cardinals a five-run lead.

With rain pouring down, Tommy Edman drilled an Aaron Fletcher sinker for a line drive off the top of the left-field fence for a solo homer and a 6-0 Cardinals lead in the eighth inning. The play was reviewed before home plate umpire Jim Reynolds announced to the crowd that the call stood, a new twist this season.

Fletcher hit Carlson with a pitch, surrendered a single to Goldschmidt and a sacrifice fly to O’Neill to score Carlson to make it 7-0. Nolan Arenado followed with a two-run homer to left for a 9-0 lead.

The loss was even more bittersweet for Shelton, who was experiencing his first full capacity Opening Day as Pirates manager after attendance was limited by covid-19 protocols in his first two seasons.

“It was great, in terms of the fans and being in a full ballpark,” Shelton said. “The outcome was definitely not what we were looking for, but it’s nice to see fans back in the ballpark.”