PITTSBURGH — Last time Zach Thompson was on the mound, before right elbow nerve inflammation put him on the 15-day injured list, he put together a solid, 4 1/3-inning, two-run effort against the San Francisco Giants.
That outing polished off a nine-outing stretch in which Thompson had a 2.48 ERA, starting in the beginning of May and running right up until his injury. That, in part, is what made the timing of the injury so cruel. After stumbling to a 10.80 ERA in his first three starts, Thompson had gotten back on track and was pitching as well as anyone in the Pirates’ rotation. Anything to derail that would be inopportune.
Thompson returned Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, though, and gave the Pirates pretty much more of the same. He tossed four scoreless innings to begin the game, allowed a two-run homer in the fifth to Brewers catcher Omar Narváez and exited with two outs in that inning having thrown 67 pitches.
That, again, was encouraging for the big righty. Everything else about the Pirates’ effort in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to the Brewers was less encouraging. Despite putting a runner on base in seven of nine innings, only one of those runners ever reached third base, and the Pirates went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position to pace the shutout.
Obviously, with that sort of offensive output, Thompson and the rest of the Pirates’ pitching staff had a small margin for error. That makes it hard to criticize the runs Thompson did allow.
If there has been a problem for Thompson, though, it is that he has struggled to get deep into games. At times, that’s been his own doing. Against the Giants in his most recent start, it took him 83 pitches to get through the 18 batters he faced.
Other times, Thompson has been given a short leash. Two starts ago, against the Atlanta Braves, he was pulled after throwing 67 pitches, allowing two runs over five frames in a game the Pirates ultimately lost in a 10-4 blowout, bringing the decision to pull Thompson under fire.
In this one, it was a little of both. Thompson had just allowed the one-out homer to Narváez, then gave up a single before recording the second out on a fielder’s choice. At 67 pitches again, he made way for right-hander Duane Underwood Jr. That almost backfired, as Underwood loaded the bases for getting out of the jam.
With that, Thompson’s day was done, and the bullpen kept things close. Underwood, Tyler Beede and Chris Stratton combined to throw 4 1/3 shutout innings to close it out.
By that point, it was up to the offense, and they put together their best rally of the game in the ninth. Jack Suwinski doubled to right, his second of the game, Diego Castillo reached on a wild pitch after a strikeout and Ke’Bryan Hayes drew a two-out walk to load the bases, leaving it up to Bryan Reynolds. He got a decent pitch to hit and sent it to left field, but it just wasn’t hit hard or low enough to keep the rally going.
Reynolds represented the 11th and final Pirate to record an out with runners in scoring position, and the Pirates were sent to their 47th loss of the season.
