A near-perfect bullpen effort unraveled dramatically in the ninth inning, allowing the St. Louis Cardinals to snatch a 4-2 victory from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly is 46 but, at heart, has old-school sensibilities.
Much of Kelly's approach comes from his years as a utility man with the Detroit Tigers playing under Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland. Growing up in the Pittsburgh area, which remains a bastion of old-school values, also shaped his sensibilities.
Yet Kelly readily adapts to the times. He understands modern analytics and incorporates them into his decisions.
Although the Pirates field one of the most talented starting rotations in the major leagues, Kelly willingly gives those five pitchers occasional rest by using openers, bulk relievers, and bullpen games.
Pittsburgh chose to go with a bullpen game Monday night against the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a four-game series at PNC Park. For most of the game, the strategy worked as planned, but the turning point came in the ninth inning. The Cardinals seized the moment, scoring four runs to win 4-2.
Four Pirates pitchers retired the first 20 batters. Opener Mason Montgomery and Justin Lawrence each pitched one inning. Rookie Wilber Dotel handled the next four, and Evan Sisk secured the first two outs of the seventh inning.
Alec Burleson broke up the perfect game with a two-out infield single off Sisk in the seventh. Third baseman Nick Gonzales backhanded the grounder, but Burleson beat the throw to first base.
"I thought they did a tremendous job. From Monty to Lawrence to Dotel, who came in firing, to Sisk as well,” Kelly said. “Gonzo almost made a heck of a play. That's a really tough play to make, and he almost made it."
Dotel was particularly good in his third major-league appearance.
"We had targeted four innings for him, and we thought that would be the absolute max,” Kelly said. “He did a tremendous job of getting there, and then at the top we felt really good about Sisk."
Dotel averaged 99 mph on his 31 four-seam fastballs.
"I thought it was the fastball velo,” Kelly said when asked for the key to Dotel’s success. “It was over 100 at first and started to trend down a little bit, but still carried it at 98 through. I thought he did a fantastic job and mixed in some changeup, splits, and some sliders too."
Despite losing the perfect game bid, Pittsburgh still led 2-0 and was three outs from victory entering the ninth inning, when the pivotal moment arrived. They called on Dennis Santana to close out the game, but Santana was unable to hold the lead, blowing his second save in four opportunities this season.
Santana allowed back-to-back home runs to Pedro Pages and JT Wetherholt with one out, tying the score at 2-all. Ivan Herrera and Jordan Walker drew walks around another infield single by Burleson to load the bases.
Jose Fermin followed by grounding a two-run double into the left-field corner, putting the Cardinals ahead 4-2.
“That’s why I feel bad myself because it was a bullpen day, everybody did great,” Santana said. “We can talk about Dotel. He was awesome today, really good, throwing 101, gave it everything for (four innings), then I go in there in the ninth and look bad. Tomorrow’s a new day.
“It’s not the first time I gave up two homers, and it won’t be the last time because I’m going to play for a couple more years. I’ve just got to take it. They’ve got a bat, I’ve got a ball, so – and they’re good, too. They won today; tomorrow, we’ll see.”