Pirates Insider Podcast, Episode 35 (7/6 at Nationals)

The Pirates stayed in the fight. In the process, they showcased what it will take to properly handle this current 22-game stretch against teams .500 or better. Konnor Griffin was incredible. The bullpen got it done. And the offense -- on this entire road trip -- showed how it can beat opponents a variety of ways. Jason Mackey breaks it all down here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Good morning, Pirates fans. This is the Pirates Insider Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Mackey, back in Pittsburgh after a weekend spent in DC. Hopefully, everybody had a wonderful 4th of July. And the Pirates helped to celebrate that with, I thought, one of their better wins of the season, 11-5 over the Nationals at Nationals Park, taking a series in DC. Want to break that down a little bit as well as some all-star news that we got over the weekend. Want to react to that. A bit of a, I don't know, I'm going to kill the T's, but I thought the decision could have been better. And still holding out hope we're going to see some different representation for the Pirates. And it actually ties into this weekend, this road trip. Pirates went 4-3 in stops in Philadelphia and Washington. And one of the things that I thought was just so noticeable about the two games, the offense, and the many different ways they're able to score runs. So let's pick it up on Sunday's game and where the Pirates are at. They jump out to a 4-0 lead and some clutch hitting there. Tyler Callahan gets things started top of the second. Single through the right side. Jake Mangum adds on, slaps one through the left side. By the way, just a small detour. I don't understand why teams continue to play their infield in. The Nationals got burned twice by that scenario. I'd play him back. You have a better chance of an out. That's also sideways of our primary discussion. Brian Reynolds Homers in the top of the third. That's a 4-0 lead. That gets wiped out. Nationals battle back. By the way, very good offensive team. I was impressed with them a lot. Not that that's a huge surprise, but they battle back, they tire it, tied at four. We go to the top of the eighth, Connor Griffin. My goodness, what a game from Griffin. I was joking on Twitter it was the Connor Griffin hat trick. One defensive play. No, he had two web gems. A key hit, which I'm about to talk about, and then stealing a base. Gets his 20th. He's the fastest to 20 in the modern era for the Pirates. Does it in just 59 games? But the big moment here, of course, talking offense, Connor Griffin stays within his approach. Short to the ball. Love that. Fastball, 2-2 count, a little bit middle in, punches it through the right side, two run score. Pirates take a 6-4 lead. At that point, Brandon Lau comes up and goodbye. One-two fastball down. Lau. Boy, like a lot of lefties. Loves to hit down and in, crushes this one 396. Pirates take a 9-4 lead. That was essentially all she wrote. And you got Griffin with a mature at bat, Lau supplying some power. Henry Davis would tack on a two-run single. But after the game, a lot of the conversation with Don Kelly was about staying in the fight. That was the topic of my story at MLB.com, pirates.com. And this is the type of game, this was the type of game, I should say, that the Pirates have lost far too frequently this season. Maybe they score some runs, but they're not able to handle themselves defensively. Maybe they jump out to an early lead, they're not able to hang on to it. The bullpen experiences issues. They have guys on base and they don't get the key hit. They were two for twelve with runners in scoring position prior to Griffin stepping to the plate in the eighth inning. Right now, at a very, very, very key time for this team, they put it all together. And I thought they put it all together fairly well on the road trip. I mean, you're not going to go seven games against the Nats and Phillies and have everything go perfect, right? Like Christopher Sanchez was really good early on Friday. The Pirates were not good. They ended up battling back. I mean, there's going to be bumps on the road or along the road. But by and large, I thought the Pirates showed a recipe for success. They've been showing signs of it. I'm still waiting for this team to kind of put it all together at once and get hot. They've had such an odd season to this point, and that there's been neither a very lengthy losing streak nor a very lengthy winning streak where kind of everything goes right. And I'm starting to think, and I've been fooled by this before, certainly, but some guys are finding roles in the bullpen. They're a little bit different. And if this bullpen can hang on and they get enough starting pitching, like you can see it. It is not a crazy thought. We saw a lot of evidence along the trail of Philly and Washington in what this might look like. And even, you know, to go back to another point in Sunday's game to kind of make my overall, you know, support my overall thesis, Bubba Chandler did not pitch great. We've seen him fill up the zone a lot recently. Walks have not been an issue. Well, they were an issue Sunday. He walked four, goes four plus, gives up four or earns six hits. Um this was not one of Bubba Chandler's best starts of the season. However, Mason Montgomery comes on, bases loaded, no outs, gets out of it, just allows one run. It's not even charged to him, it's charged to Bubba. By and large, that's a very good spot for Montgomery to come in. It's higher leverage. I mean, that the game could have really gotten sideways for the Pirates, and Montgomery shuts it down. Madsen comes on, Soto comes on, really good job by those guys. Uh Soto pitching multiple innings. Loved that. Was happy to see Don Kelly stick with him. I think he was seven pitches after his first inning. You might as well ride that. Adjust in-game, and then Dennis Santana finishes it off. Dennis Santana has been better. I know that that's kind of might sneak up on some people, but uh Hunter Stratton has not pitched for the Pirates, but I like his addition. Um Evan Sisk is out. Obviously, don't like that. I think he's been one of the more important people in that bullpen. Johan Ramirez has pitched better. My point: if that thing can get figured out and you get O'Neill Cruz back, you get Spencer Horwitz back, which, by the way, Ben Sherrington told me on the Pirates Insider show we're looking at after the All-Star break, but still optimistic they're going to be back in July. A dynamic offense at Esmeriline Valdez into this. He was quiet Sunday, but boy, has he been good. I mean, this is a legitimate top three offense in baseball. The Pirates have done just a fantastic job putting this thing together. Um, the way it sort of connects, Jake Mangum has been really good filling in for people. Tyler Callahan has been a great bench utility piece. Uh, Andy Rodriguez left yesterday's game with some left hip discomfort, we'll say left side discomfort. They're still getting it checked out, gonna get a report on him. Uh, but what he's added behind the plate, um, Nick Gonzalez just it seemingly gets two or three hits every game. I don't need to sell you on the offense. I think what I need to sell you on, or what I need to speak logically about, is everything else. But if we're starting to see the bullpen round into form, the offense is clicking, the pirates are handling late game scenarios, hitting better with runners and scoring position, which they are. I believe they were at 374 over their last 11 games prior to Sunday. And yeah, it was a bit of a drag for seven innings or so outside of Callahan's hit, but they're doing that better too. Do you believe in the starting pitching? Do you think the Pirates can get enough from their starting rotation to support all of it? Personally, I do. Um, I am not in the camp of the Paul Skins alarmists. Um, I know that's out there. I'm not in the camp of people, you know, wanting to move Mitch Keller to the bullpen or bury him or whatever. Do both of them need to pitch better? Absolutely. Um, we saw that on the road trip too. That was another takeaway for me. I thought Mitch Keller was uh gaining traction, taking steps forward, filling up the zone more, all that stuff, and then his last start wasn't quite there. I'm not I I've seen too much of Mitch to punt on that. He's not far off, believe it or not. I think there's some usage that can stand to be tweaked and kind of with both of them, but I don't think the ability lacks. Um, you know, and I know I've caught some heat on this podcast before for my defense or explanation of schemes. Um, I I certainly worried in Philadelphia. I mean, that that is a concerning look. I talked about that on the pod 93, 94. Like, there's there's a lot more we need to, you know, soberly assess with skeins. But overall, do I think Paul Schienes can be a viable part of this rotation? Come on, it's a ridiculous question. Of course he can. Um, and I that is sort of the piece here that we need to see. If everything else is rounding in the form, do you believe in the starting rotation? Enough to keep keep them competitive? I do. And you sort of get through the draft, you get through the all-star game, and you should be able to add some reinforcements. All right, that wraps up that topic. Uh, the other thing I wanted to touch on too here is just the all-star selections themselves. Um, I I think I said on Twitter just an unfortunate outcome, something like that. I mean, you've got the number two, number three offense, depending on what metric you want to look at in baseball. Uh that group should be represented. I don't care how it happens. I understand numbers game um to a point. That doesn't mean I accept it. You're not you're misrepresenting your sport at that point, if not having one of these guys there. I mean, part of part of the All-Star game to me is talking about key first half storylines, good first half storylines, highlighting things within your sport that are worth highlighting. And you're talking about a team with the pirates who went out and spent money, they made smart acquisitions, um, they identified a weakness and addressed it. Don't you want to talk about that? I would. I I'd want to talk about what the pirates have done and the benefits of doing that stuff. The benefits of, yeah, going out and being aggressive on the trade market, on free agents. I don't want that overlooked. And I know that, you know, they have 30 teams to worry about and you're not thinking about all that minutiae, but I'm just saying that I mean, one aspect of a team that's really, really good, you would think that would pop on somebody's radar. And it's absolutely nothing against Paul Skins. Like Paul Skeens should go too. Paul Skeen, regardless of what you think about his first half. He's a name, he's a face, he's popular, he's people, somebody people care about. He's gonna help market your game. Absolutely. And that actually works out pretty well. If Paul Skins doesn't pitch, which he's not going to, he explained that to us at Nationals Park. Braxton Ashcraft is a perfect replacement. He's gonna be available and we could talk about and celebrate his first half. That's fantastic. But I thought it was a swing and a miss, um, pun not intended, on the Pirates offense. And maybe somebody goes. Maybe they add Brandon Lau and that would be great. But I I thought it was completely reasonable if you go skiing's and then, you know, sort of understanding, seeing where he lines up, he's not going to pitch, you replace him with Ashcraft, and then one of the two. My choice probably would have been Brandon Lau. I mean, you lead everybody at your position at home runs and RBIs, and that's not good enough to make the All-Star game? That doesn't make sense. I mean, those of us that have watched the Pirates' offense, you would argue that Brian Reynolds is their best player. Um, but if you want to make a numerical case, like he he can get lost in the sauce a little bit more among NL outfielders than Lal does among second basemen.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

He's at the very top of the leaderboards. How do you miss that?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

I don't understand it. I hope that Lal does make it as a replacement and we get to talk about his first half and celebrate it a little bit. Man, just what a what a wonderful player and great addition to the clubhouse. Actually, writing about him and Ryan O'Hearn and a fateful plane flight the two of them took about a year ago. Make sure you check that out at pirates.com. This has been the Pirates Insider Podcast. A happy Monday to you, Pirates and Braves tomorrow. Looking forward to that. Uh, and I will talk to you from PNC Park to wrap it all up. Make sure you uh download this podcast, like and subscribe, and do everything else you can digitally. Uh, really enjoy growing this. And I'll talk to you tomorrow.