Pirates’ errors in extra innings cost them against Phillies for 6th consecutive loss
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The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to find new ways to lose close games amid a six-game losing streak. This one came down to errors.
A throwing error by Michael Chavis allowed the Philadelphia Phillies to score the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning. A mental mistake by Oneil Cruz ended the Pirates’ best chance of tying the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Phillies shortstop Didi Gregorius scored the winning run, then followed a heady defensive play with a dazzling one as the Phillies topped the Pirates, 2-1, Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 38,781 at PNC Park.
It was the Pirates’ sixth consecutive loss — all decided by two runs or fewer — and their 11th in the last 13. This was the third consecutive close outcome against the Phillies, following an 8-7 loss on Thursday and a 4-2 loss in 10 innings on Friday.
“We’re going to make physical mistakes,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We have to avoid making mental mistakes in such a small margin. We play a lot of close games, so the small margin of victory and I think at times, good, bad or indifferent, we’re going to see young players make mental mistakes and we have to learn from those, and tonight we made a mental mistake.”
The Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th when Matt Vierling hit a sharp grounder off Yerry De Los Santo to first, where Chavis chose to throw to third in an attempt to get lead runner Gregorius. The throw bounced past Ke’Bryan Hayes, allowing Gregorius to score.
Shelton said Chavis made the right read but rushed his throw. Chavis blamed using a two-seam grip (instead of a four-seam) that spun away from Hayes, who tumbled and landed on his backside.
“Yeah, my heart does sink, but initially, I think that Ke’ got hurt,” Chavis said. “It was such a awkward play and his cleat got caught. I couldn’t tell if it skipped, if it hit the runner. I couldn’t really tell what happened, but he just looked awkward, so like immediately, I’m just like, ‘Did I just hurt Ke’?’ I was worried about that, then obviously, I just wanted to punch myself in the face.”
Vierling advanced to second on the error and reached third on Schwarber’s groundout but was thrown out at home when Hoskins hit a comebacker to De Los Santos. Catcher Jason Delay then picked off Hoskins at first after the Pirates challenged a safe call and it was overturned upon review.
The Phillies returned the favor, picking off Cruz at second base to start the bottom of the 10th. Gregorius slipped behind the 6-foot-7 Cruz, who took a big lead and didn’t have time to react when Corey Knebel turned and threw him out.
“I wanted to get a bigger lead so if there was a hit, I could get to third or maybe be able to score,” Cruz said through translator Mike Gonzalez. “Unfortunately, the opposite happened. They were able to turn around, pick me off. Caught me by surprise in that situation. It’s definitely something that I will learn and I guarantee will not happen again.”
(It was the second straight game where Cruz was caught at second base; a Phillies challenge overturned a call that led to him being doubled off Friday when he crossed the bag without touching it and returned to first on a Yoshi Tsutsugo fly out to right field).
Gregorius then made a diving stab and threw from one knee to get Bligh Madris for the second out. Cal Mitchell, who homered to tie the game in the seventh inning, grounded out to first to end it.
“I think we saw a young player make a mistake,” Shelton said of the Cruz pickoff play. “A veteran player made an inside move in a situation where we’re not moving, and he got caught anticipating a pitch to the plate and because of it, it ended up costing us an out.”
It was the Pirates’ second sellout of the season and best attendance since they drew 39,500 for a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on April 3, 2016 for the season opener. That comes with a caveat: Phillies fans accounted for a good portion of the crowd.
Facing the Phillies should have come with a warning: Ranger danger.
The Pirates haven’t been able to solve Ranger Suarez, let alone score on the Phillies left-hander in their past two meetings. After throwing a four-hit shutout in a 3-0 win over the Pirates last Sept. 25, Suarez allowed three hits while striking out eight in six scoreless innings.
Suarez outdueled Pirates starter Mitch Keller, who wasn’t sharp but surrendered only a solo home run by J.T. Realmuto in giving up one run on five hits and three walks over six innings.
Keller escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning after sandwiching walks of Kyle Schwarber and Realmuto around a Hoskins single. But Keller got Nick Castellanos looking at a called third strike on a four-seam fastball and Darick Hall swinging at a curve.
The Pirates turned a double play to end the second when Vierling lined out to Diego Castillo, who got Bryson Stott out at first.
After Schwarber doubled to center to start the third, Hayes made a great defensive stab on Hoskins and pump-faked a throw to first base to draw Schwarber off the bag. Hayes then threw to Castillo to get Schwarber in a rundown, where shortstop Kevin Newman chased him down as he reversed field and headed back to second.
Suarez retired the first 11 batters he faced, striking out six, before walking Hayes on four pitches to end his perfect game with two outs in the fourth inning. Chavis broke up the no-hit bid with a single to left, and Suarez hit Ben Gamel with a pitch to load the bases. But Castillo flew out to center to end the scoring chance.
Realmuto ended the scoreless tie when he hit Keller’s 1-1 fastball 358 feet to right for his 10th home run and a 1-0 Phillies lead in the top of the sixth.
Newman led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a fielder’s choice before Hayes grounded to third and Alec Bohm’s throw got a sliding Newman out at the plate. With runners on first and second, Suarez got Gamel to line out to center to end the scoring threat.
The Pirates finally scored in the seventh, when Mitchell crushed Jose Alvarado’s 98.9-mph sinker, sending it over the Clemente Wall in right with an exit velocity of 107.3 mph for his fourth home run to tie the game at 1-1.
Andrew Bellatti faced the top of the Pirates’ order and struck out the side in the eighth. Wil Crowe retired the Phillies in order in the top of the ninth, but Knebel got Cruz swinging to retire the side in the home half of the inning.
“I think the point we take is, we’re playing good baseball because you don’t play good baseball, to some respect, if you’re not in close games,” Shelton said. “It’s the fact that we can’t make mental mistakes in games like that because the margin of error is so small. Right now we’re seeing a young club that is making mistakes that they have to learn and grow from. We’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to keep teaching. It can be frustrating — it is very frustrating — to lose games like this.”