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.
