At the start of the nine-game homestand, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton was asked if he likes MLB’s new balanced schedule where interleague games have gone from novelty to normalcy.

“I like the fact that the fans get to see every team,” Shelton quipped.

Shelton was asked again, pressed to answer this time.

“I like the fact that the fans get to see every team,” Shelton said, chuckling as he repeated himself. “It’s definitely more challenging.”

The Pirates (34-30) have a one-game lead in the NL Central after winning six of nine games in the homestand. They swept the St. Louis Cardinals, lost two of three to the Oakland A’s and won two of three against the New York Mets.

What’s most impressive is the Pirates are in first place despite an 11-18 record against American League opponents. They have won 23 of 35 games against fellow National League foes.

Now comes a new challenge.

The Pirates’ next six games are at teams they have yet to play this season, with a three-game series at the Chicago Cubs followed by a three-game series at the Milwaukee Brewers. This road trip could give a clearer picture of where the Pirates belong in the divisional standings.

The Cubs (28-37), after being swept by the Los Angeles Angels, took two of three at the San Francisco Giants. The Brewers (34-32), after taking two of three from Baltimore, were swept at home by the A’s. The Pirates have won seven of their last 10 games but split their past six.

“It’s very strange that we’re at June 11, and we have not played two teams in our division,” Shelton said. “We only played one team in our division three times. It’s a chance where we’re going to be able to get into the division and see where we’re at.”

First baseman Carlos Santana said the Pirates plan to keep the same approach, no matter who they are facing this week.

“Normally, at this point of the season, we’d have faced them a couple times, but this week is really important for the team,” Santana said. “The mentality is to play hard, play to win. We don’t worry about the Cubs or Milwaukee.”

1. Back to bullpen: Pirates general manager Ben Cherington revealed Sunday on his weekly radio show that struggling starter Roansy Contreras will return to the bullpen.

The 23-year-old right-hander is 3-5 with a 5.91 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 12 games, including 11 starts. He posted an 8.16 ERA in his last seven appearances, lost his past four decisions and gave up seven runs on six hits and two walks in one-third of an inning in a 9-5 loss to the A’s on Wednesday.

“He’s just gotten himself in a situation where he’s not in his best form,” Cherington said. “We’ll take the gas off, so to speak. We’re confident Roansy will respond to this.”

The Pirates moved Contreras to the bullpen in late May, when Vince Velasquez was activated from the 15-day injured list. Contreras pitched two scoreless innings of relief in a 6-3 loss at the Seattle Mariners on May 28 before returning to the rotation after Velasquez reinjured his right elbow.

“I think we wanted to put Ro in the bullpen anyway, like we did in Seattle, and it was really effective,” Shelton said. “He’ll get a chance to work on some things without starting and pick the spots where we can use him.”

Momentos en que el lanzador dominicano Osvaldo Bidó, de 27 años, recibe la noticia de su llamado al equipo grande de los Piratas de Pittsburgh y luego cuando éste, a su vez, se lo informa a su madre.

Bidó firmó a los 21 años con un bono de US$10,000. Es oriundo del distrito… pic.twitter.com/7HxVkr73zz

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) June 11, 2023

2. For starters: With Contreras in a relief role and Velasquez out after season-ending surgery last week, the Pirates need to fill a spot in the starting rotation.

Luis Ortiz (1-2, 4.23 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday at the Cubs against former Pirates first-round pick Jameson Taillon (1-4, 7.02 ERA), who signed a four-year, $68 million deal in December.

Although Pirates fans had their fingers crossed that 2019 first-round pick Quinn Priester would be the pick, Hector Gomez of Deportivo tweeted that Osvaldo Bido received the call he was being promoted to the Pirates.

A 27-year-old right-hander, Bido is 3-4 with a 4.55 ERA and 1.30 WHIP with 56 strikeouts and 26 walks in 12 games, including 10 starts, at Triple-A Indianapolis this season.

Another name to keep an eye on is Cam Alldred, who made his major-league debut for the Pirates last year when he allowed one hit with one strikeout in facing four batters in a 4-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on May 12, 2022.

The 26-year-old left-hander converted from reliever to starter with Indy and has a 2.70 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 20 strikeouts against eight walks in 20 innings over five starts this season.

3. Show of faith: Three weeks after Shelton was criticized roundly for pulling Mitch Keller at 84 pitches against Arizona, the Pirates manager showed some confidence in his ace.

Keller had allowed two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in six innings May 20 when Shelton opted for reliever Robert Stephenson to pitch the seventh.

The move backfired in a big way when Stephenson gave up the winning runs on a two-run homer to Pavin Smith in the 4-3 loss.

On Sunday, Keller was at 94 pitches after six innings, but Shelton sent him back out for the seventh with a one-run lead over the Mets. Shelton said pitching coach Oscar Marin talked with Keller and catcher Austin Hedges to see how he was trending before deciding to allow Keller to throw one more inning.

“Mitch was in a good spot,” Shelton said, “so I thought with the way he was executing …”

Keller had retired seven consecutive batters and had just completed an eight-pitch sixth inning where he got three groundouts, so Shelton evaluated the move on a hitter-by-hitter basis.

Keller rewarded Shelton’s faith by getting Brett Baty to line out to left, Mark Canha to ground out to second and Omar Narvaez to pop up to second to finish with a career-high 106 pitches.

Shelton was impressed with how Keller (8-2) bounced back after having a 7.79 ERA over his previous three starts.

“The one thing we kind of got spoiled with for five starts is that he pitched about as well as you can pitch,” Shelton said.

“Everybody sets that expectation of that’s what you’re going to be able to do and, all of the sudden, he has a start where he doesn’t throw the ball as well and everybody throws up the flags of what’s wrong. He continues to bounce back. I mean, even in the starts he didn’t have his best stuff, he still gave us innings — and that’s what guys at the top of rotations do.”

Ke'Bryan Hayes leads all of baseball in Outs Above Average (10) and, again, it ain't hard to tell pic.twitter.com/cPWvkdtAoH

— Justice delos Santos (@justdelossantos) June 11, 2023

4. Good as gold: Shelton started the hype for third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to win a Gold Glove early, raving about a pair of plays he made on defense.

After Keller gave up a solo homer to Jeff McNeil in the fourth inning, Tommy Pham hit a chopper down the third-base line that Hayes backhanded and made an off-balance throw across his body to first base to beat Pham. It likely saved a run, as Keller proceeded to walk Baty and hit Canha with a pitch.

“I told him after the game, ‘Dude, I didn’t try to make a big deal out of it out there because I know you don’t like that,’ ” Keller said. “We locked eyes, and I just gave him a head nod. That was unbelievable, especially in the moment. Anytime you can get outs, outs are sacred. Getting (Pham), because that guy’s a base stealer, he likes to make stuff happen on the bases, so getting him out was huge.”

It's hard to comprehend just how elite Ke'Bryan Hayes' range is...

Platinum Glove. Now. pic.twitter.com/G7Zz34fcc4

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) June 11, 2023

In the sixth, Hayes showed his range by cutting in front of shortstop Tucupita Marcano to field Francisco Lindor’s grounder and make the throw to first from second base.

“The way Ke’Bryan played today was elite,” Shelton said. “You want to start petitioning now the play he made down the line. I mean, he fielded a ball and threw it from second base. That’s why he’s the best defender on the planet.”

5. Planting the seeds: Wonder how closely SNY analyst Todd Zeile was watching Hayes play defense against the Mets?

Zeile ripped Hayes last September for not having his glove on while pulling a bag of sunflower seeds out of his back pocket as Eduardo Escobar rounded third on a single to right by Tomas Nido in the third inning of a 4-3 loss to the Mets.

“That’s September baseball when you’re in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization right now,” Zeile said.

That comment, which went viral, was a black eye for Hayes and possibly damaging to his Gold Glove chances last year. Even though Hayes led all major leaguers in defensive runs saved and had better metrics than Nolan Arenado, the St. Louis Cardinals star won his 10th consecutive NL Gold Glove — and a Platinum Glove.

Hayes was asked if he believes Zeile’s criticism cost him.

“It could have. I’m not sure,” Hayes said. “It’s something you live and learn from. I know not to make that mistake again moving forward. I just go out there and try to play my game each and every night. That was just a weird situation that happened last year. I’ve moved past it. Every day when I’m out there, I try to make a statement with defense.”

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