PITTSBURGH — Roansy Contreras paid for his one big mistake against the Atlanta Braves on Monday night.
In the fifth inning of an eventual 2-1 loss, he left an 0-1 curveball out over the plate to Braves rookie Michael Harris II, and Harris deposited it a row deep in PNC Park’s left-field stands. Calling the pitch a mistake might even be an exaggeration. The pitch did catch a good bit of the plate, but for Harris to stay on it and drive it that deep to the opposite field might say more about the swing than Contreras’ offering.
Outside of that, Contreras was as good as he’s been in a Pirates uniform. The first batter he faced, Ronald Acuña Jr., ripped a lead-off double to left-center, but Contreras bounced back to strand him. In the second, he walked a pair but left them on base as well. He needed just eight pitches each in the third and fourth frames. Any real trouble he faced came from Harris in the fifth.
Even then, Contreras bounced back impressively, working quickly through a 1-2-3 sixth. In the seventh, he allowed a two-out walk but came back to induce a weak popout to the shortstop to end the frame and his night.
Contreras last seven innings, allowing the two earned runs on four hits and three walks but struck out five. He became the fifth Pirate this season to last seven. But leaving it at that ignores why Contreras’ starts matter just that little bit more right now. His status as a rookie and a potential fixture of the Pirates’ future means that any good signs will be all the more encouraging. This was the best sign yet, against a Braves lineup in the top three in MLB in team OPS, homers, runs scored and multiple other categories.
You can’t say Contreras was perfect, but this was a big test, and he passed it with flying colors. Even in a loss, that’s encouraging.
His downfall didn’t have anything to do with him, really. The Pirates’ offense was silent for most of the night. Too often this season that has meant a lot of missed opportunities, but there weren’t even those in this game. Runners on the corners in the first, a stolen base in the second and a small-ball effort in the eighth were the only times they even got runners in scoring position.
Those few opportunities were never accompanied by a hit, as Braves right-hander Jake Odorizzi struck out seven and walked none en route to a breezy six-inning start.
The only offense the Pirates did get came from another rookie. This time it was Oneil Cruz, mired in a rather nasty slump over his last 13 games or so. He spoke pregame about those struggles and mentioned that a key for him is to be picky, but not too picky.
That mantra would seem to qualify for his fifth-inning tater. Odorizzi threw him a cutter up and in, a pitch one wouldn’t expect a 6-foot-7 player to be able to turn on with any might. But Cruz got his hands through and lifted the pitch deep into the right-field stands for his first homer since Aug. 6.
It was Cruz’s 10th homer of the season, giving the Pirates three rookies with 10 or more home runs (Cruz, Jack Suwinski and Diego Castillo) for the first time in franchise history. The team’s 42 rookie homers this season is also a franchise record.
So went a night where a pair of heralded rookies proved what they could do, while the team as a whole proved why they’re approaching 30 games under .500, currently 47-75. It’s a game that will leave optimistic Pirates fans pleased with a future outlook and leave pessimistic ones staring at the scoreline after Pittsburgh lost its third straight and its ninth in the last 11 games.
