PITTSBURGH — Bryse Wilson still faces a climb ahead of him to prove he can be a capable MLB starting pitcher, but Saturday was a step in the right direction.
The 24-year-old right-hander joined the Pirates last season at the trade deadline, sent over by the Atlanta Braves in the Richard Rodriguez deal. He pitched to below-average results last season but cratered in this one, with an 8.29 ERA in nine appearances entering Saturday.
The Pirates sent him down to Class AAA Indianapolis in late May. In his lone return to the majors between then and now, he gave up seven earned runs on 10 hits to the St. Louis Cardinals and was immediately sent back down.
Overall, he was pitching well in the minors while he was down but couldn’t get it to translate in the majors. In a 7-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, Wilson lasted six innings and allowed just two earned runs. It is both the longest he’s pitched into a game and just the third time all season he’s allowed two runs or fewer, though one of the other two occurrences was in a relief appearance.
There are caveats needed here. Wilson still allowed at least one hit in each of his six innings. After one run scored in the first, more might have crossed home in the second, but with runners on second and third with one out, shortstop Oneil Cruz used every inch of his gigantic wingspan to nab a line drive to the left side. The runner on third took off on contact and Cruz jogged over to third to complete the unassisted, inning-ending double play.
It was the first of three double plays the Pirates turned behind Wilson, who worked around traffic in every inning but came out smelling like a rose on the other side.
Wilson was also certainly helped by the Pirates’ offensive breakout. That started in the third, first with some small ball and then with a big fly. Catcher Tyler Heineman singled to lead it off, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from left fielder Tucupita Marcano. Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes singled him to third and center fielder Bryan Reynolds reached on a fielder’s choice to drive in Heineman, tying the game.
First baseman Michael Chavis then decided he’d had enough of the station-to-station offense, swung at a 3-0 fastball and launched it to right-center for a two-run blast that gave the Pirates a 3-1 lead.
In the fourth, Cruz ripped a 112.3-mph line-drive homer to the seats in right, his third of the season. Saturday also marked his ninth straight home game with an RBI, which is the longest streak in PNC Park history and the longest for a Pirate since Orlando Merced in 1996.
Strangely, neither Cruz’s nor Chavis’ homer was the furthest-hit ball for the Pirates. That honor belonged to second baseman Diego Castillo, who crushed a pitch to left-center in the fifth. It traveled 420 feet, Castillo’s longest hit of the season, but cruelly bounced off the top of the wall in the notch. Everyone in the ballpark thought it was gone, except designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach, who was running the whole way from first and came around to score. That capped off a three-run inning for the Pirates and the end of their scoring.
That, along with a stellar outing from Wilson, was enough to bring home the win.
Perhaps more importantly, it was a sign of life for the right-hander. It’s possible he will have to wait a bit before starting again for the Pirates, with right-hander Zach Thompson poised to return from the injured list any day. But on a team in desperate need of pitching depth, any contributions are welcome. Wilson at least showed he’s capable of more than his struggles at the beginning of the season.
Wilson will have to string more than one good start together to prove he has more in the tank, but perhaps one good outing has set him back on a better trajectory.
