Pirates' starting depth may be tested after Falter exits early

PITTSBURGH -- Joey Bart thought he saw Bailey Falter shake his arm when warming up for the third inning and figured something might not be quite right. It turned out the Pirates catcher was correct.

“I felt like hopefully it's something that's not too serious, but I knew, I guess in that third inning, that we needed to get somebody else in there,” Bart said.

Falter ended up being removed in that third inning after loading the bases and falling behind 1-0 to Pete Alonso. Dennis Santana allowed all three of those inherited runners to score, and the Pirates lost to the Mets, 5-2, on Saturday at PNC Park.

Falter was removed with left posterior arm discomfort, and the club announced the injury as day-to-day.

“I just obviously wanted to try to stay in the game for as much as possible, just to give the bullpen a little break,” said Falter. “But I noticed a little discomfort in the warmup pitches in the third. Didn't really throw too many strikes. It kind of flared up after that, and I kind of just lost feel for it."

"I'm not really concerned, honestly,” Falter added later. “Coming in here tomorrow, we'll re-evaluate and get some more news."

The Pirates are going to hold their breath that Falter is right and this isn’t going to require a trip to the injured list. While it’s obviously an apples and oranges situation, Jared Jones said he was not concerned about a right lat strain after he was removed Wednesday in the sixth inning. That turned out to be a Grade 2 strain, and he will not throw for two weeks before being reevaluated.

And for a team that’s trying to navigate the final eight games before the All-Star break with two potentially hurt pitchers and a potential prodigy in Paul Skenes, who is having his workload closely monitored, there isn’t a ton of starting-pitching depth at its disposal. Quinn Priester and Marco Gonzales have started rehab assignments, and Priester appears to be closer to the Majors, but the fact that it will be Luis Ortiz starting for the Pirates on Sunday over Priester might indicate he’s not quite ready to return yet either.

To put it simply, it’s clear there are some moving parts that need to get sorted out before the midseason break.

“I think we'll have to figure that out depending on where we're at and what the severity is of it,” said Derek Shelton. “I mean, we know Jared's going to be out cause he's not throwing for the next two weeks. So I think we'll figure it out.”

Not that any team wants to have its starter exit early, but it’s a little easier to stomach with a win. The Pirates’ offense couldn’t pull through on Saturday, coming up empty with bases-loaded chances in the second and seventh. In the latter frame, pinch-hitter Jack Suwinski appeared to be positioned to draw a walk to bring home a run, but John Tumpane called two pitches that appeared to be below the zone strikes. That elicited a reaction from the usually reserved Suwinski, and Shelton was tossed arguing the calls and the pitch clock starting shortly thereafter.

But this team’s strength in the first half of the season has been starting pitching, and Jones and Falter were a big part of the reason why. If they need to sit out a bit, those are big shoes to fill.

"I think anytime you lose starters or multiple starters -- and I'm not saying we're losing Bailey -- but when you have a situation where you lose starters, it tests your depth,” Shelton said. “... We have to figure out what's best for us, most importantly what's best for the player and then what's best for us."