Bucs fall in 11th, but show 'a lot of fight'

PITTSBURGH -- Veteran starter Derek Holland said it Friday afternoon, hours before Chad Kuhl threw the first pitch of the wild game that would unfold later that night at PNC Park: “I love the fight that these guys have. There's never a quit. It's all the way through nine innings, and I think that's something that people need to see.”

People saw that fight from the Pirates on Friday night, all the way through nine innings and two more after that for good measure. Down by five runs in the seventh inning and down to their last strike three times in the bottom of the ninth, the Bucs rallied to force the extra innings that this wacky game so richly deserved. In the end, though, the Pirates were once again left talking about their resolve after a game they lost.

For all the tenacity their lineup displayed, the Pirates’ pitching staff simply couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain as the bullpen gave up 16 runs in the final seven innings of their 17-13 loss to the Tigers. It was Pittsburgh’s 11th defeat in 14 games this season.

• Box score

“A lot of fight in the boys, in the clubhouse and in the dugout. It’s great to see that,” Phillip Evans said. “Hopefully we can build off this loss and make it a positive.”

To be clear, there were plenty of silver linings throughout the back-and-forth, four-hour and 33-minute affair. Erik González drove in six runs and launched a 443-foot homer, the Pirates’ second-longest this season (behind Gregory Polanco’s 446-foot big fly on Thursday). González's performance made unlikely franchise history, as he recorded the most RBIs by a No. 9 hitter and tied the single-game RBI record by a Pirates shortstop since it became an official statistic in 1920.

Evans continued his hot start by going 3-for-5 with four RBIs and his first Major League home run, which put the Pirates ahead, 7-5, in the fifth. Bryan Reynolds, who has struggled to find his 2019 form at the plate, went 3-for-4 with a walk. And Kuhl was outstanding in his first Major League start since June 26, 2018, overpowering the Tigers’ lineup as he struck out seven over four outstanding innings.

"I've always wanted to start. I feel like I've always had starter stuff and just with these changes, I feel like I'll be able to go deeper, longer into games,” Kuhl said. “I know that's been a knock on me, just throwing too many pitches. But I feel like this is just a nice step in the right direction towards all that."

If everything had gone according to plan, the Pirates’ tandem starter duo of Kuhl and Steven Brault would have made Friday a short day for the rest of Pittsburgh’s pitching staff. But when Brault exited without recording an out in the fifth, it turned out to be another very long night for the Bucs’ beleaguered bullpen.

Six straight Tigers reached against Brault to begin the fifth inning, a brutal stretch that included back-to-back walks with the bases loaded. After throwing only 13 of his 32 pitches for strikes, Brault was pulled from the game with the score tied, 4-4.

“I think he was just rushing a little bit,” manager Derek Shelton said. “And because he was rushing and he wasn’t able to slow it back down, it caused all of his pitches to kind of be off. Very uncharacteristic of everything we’ve seen of him, not throwing the ball on the plate.”

Brault’s early exit shifted the remaining workload over to a struggling bullpen that’s already been battered by the absence of Keone Kela, Kyle Crick, Nick Burdi, Michael Feliz, Clay Holmes and Edgar Santana, not to mention the loss of JT Brubaker to the rotation due to Mitch Keller’s left oblique injury. The relievers they expected to provide depth later this season, or the ones they intended to use sparingly when stretched thin, are now populating their bullpen.

Geoff Hartlieb walked in another run before escaping the fifth inning. Yacksel Rios gave up one run and left with the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh. In came lefty Miguel Del Pozo, who allowed three straight singles and a two-out double that turned the Pirates’ two-run lead into a five-run deficit.

“In all situations, bullpen usage right now is challenging,” said Shelton, who watched the final innings from his office after being ejected in the seventh for arguing balls and strikes. “It’s challenging because of the fact of guys’ availability, and it’s challenging because of the fact I think we’ve got six guys in our bullpen on the IL.”

But the Pirates battled back, as they’ve shown a tendency to do early on this season. González doubled in two runs in the eighth, then Pittsburgh rallied in the ninth as Reynolds singled and scored on a base hit by Evans, then Adam Frazier ripped his second home run of the season to center field. The Bucs have scored 16 runs in the ninth inning, more than any other team in the Majors.

“To come back and do what we did in the ninth and have a chance to win the game, I thought it was outstanding,” Shelton said.

The Tigers and Pirates traded runs in the 10th, then Detroit pulled ahead again in the 11th against reliever Dovydas Neverauskas. Jeimer Candelario pulled a one-out single down the right-field line to drive in pinch-runner Harold Castro, Austin Romine tacked on a two-out RBI single, and Niko Goodrum doubled in two more runs.

The Pirates didn’t even intend to use Neverauskas on Friday night. Before the game, they decided that he would be available only in an emergency situation. Having already used seven pitchers, and with nobody else rested and able to pitch, the 11th inning became an emergency situation.

"I mean, it's just the way baseball works sometimes. It's a crazy game,” Kuhl said. “We had opportunities to win the ballgame, fought like heck to get into the ballgame a few times.”

Up next
Veteran left-hander Derek Holland will start for the Pirates on Saturday as they continue their three-game series against the Tigers at PNC Park. Holland has done a good job keeping runners off base, posting a 0.97 WHIP in his first two starts, but he's yet to pick up a win. Former Pittsburgh right-hander Iván Nova is set to start for Detroit. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET, live on MLB.TV.