What Woodford's shaky spot start means for Pirates' rotation plans

PITTSBURGH -- Jake Woodford's first two spot starts went about as well as the Pirates could have realistically hoped for, with just one earned run allowed over 11 innings. The third time wasn’t the charm, though, as the Mariners clubbed a pair of home runs and tallied seven runs overall (five earned) off the right-hander as the Bucs failed to complete the sweep at PNC Park Sunday afternoon, losing 10-3.

Both homers came on two-strike counts, starting with a Cal Raleigh two-run shot on a sweeper in the first. In the fourth, Josh Rojas jumped on a center-center sinker for his seventh blast of the season.

“One of them was a decent pitch, and then one of them was just as middle-middle as it gets,” Woodford said. “Just going back and look at video and make some adjustments and just try to execute a little bit better in those counts.”

Woodford had been a pleasant surprise during a very unpleasant portion of the Pirates’ season, getting called up at the end of July and providing some quality innings for a rotation and pitching staff in flux. Sunday was an outlier from what he had previously done, and he could not get a whiff on the 22 swings the Mariners took against his sinker and cutter.

"I think we know he's a sinker-slider guy, a sinker-cutter guy, and he's got to put the ball on the ground,” manager Derek Shelton said. “Today he was up and in the middle of the zone. In the previous two outings we saw him down and got a lot of contact on the ground. Today, when he's up in the zone, he's not as effective."

What’s next for the rotation?
The rotation is still in a bit of a tough spot now that they have fewer available starting options than they did before the Trade Deadline and before Marco Gonzales suffered a season-ending left forearm injury. Jared Jones is going to need to make at least one more rehab start with Triple-A Indianapolis, so the Pirates are going to be without him for at least another week.

The good news is the reports have been encouraging out of Indianapolis.

“He’s looked good down there,” Ben Cherington said of Jones on his 93.7 The Fan radio show Sunday afternoon. “Fastball is back up to 100. Physical reports have been good.”

Without Jones, the Pirates could stick with Woodford for another turn, and Domingo Germán is also on the Major League roster. The club has not announced a starter for Wednesday’s game against the Rangers. Pittsburgh has tried to avoid pitching Paul Skenes on four days' rest, so it will likely have to choose between pitching him then or a spot start from someone else.

Bart stays hot
Joey Bart provided most of the offense on the day, crushing a sixth-inning George Kirby four-seamer a Statcast-projected 430 feet to right-center for his 12th homer of the year, which is a career high.

Bart obviously had a high pedigree, being drafted second overall by the Giants in 2018, but he’s never had an offensive campaign like this in the Majors. So far, he’s batting .277 with an .883 OPS in 56 games.

The secret to that success? Well, Bart is trying to be consistent every day. Outside of that, even he’s not quite sure.

"I mean, I have no idea, really,” Bart said. “Just coming in every day prepared and going out and competing. It's kind of the same answer that you guys have been getting. But just sticking to a process and trying to figure out what I do best against each pitcher and attack that game plan and let the results play for themselves. But it's really just coming out every day ready to compete as a team and win, and the rest will take care of itself."

Bart’s blasts have been one of the offense’s best developments this year, and it has proved to be more than just a flash in the pan.

“He's gotten better throughout this year,” Shelton said. “You can never put a timeline on a player. I think as an industry we all want to put timelines on players and say, 'This guy is going to do this at a certain point.' Joey needed a little more time than what people thought. What he did today was impressive. To go right-center off Kirby, that's an impressive swing."