Bellozo duels with Skenes, but two-out error proves crucial

PITTSBURGH -- Paul Skenes and Valente Bellozo’s arsenals are two sides of two very different coins. The Pirates’ Skenes dials his heater up to 100 mph, while Bellozo sits in the high 80s. Skenes has set rookie records with his absurd strikeout rate, and Bellozo is happy to get a lot of weak contact at the expense of whiffs.

But in Monday’s series opener at PNC Park, Bellozo showed that his singular arsenal and plan, which have led to some “magician”-like escapes, as Marlins manager Skip Schumaker has put it, can be effective, too.

Bellozo allowed only one earned run over 5 1/3 solid innings, but a costly error had him exit with a deficit that the Marlins couldn’t overcome in a 3-2 loss to the Pirates.

Bellozo allowed a hard-hit homer to center field off the bat of Oneil Cruz in the first inning with two outs. The first of two errors during his start set up two more runners on base, but he escaped with a flyout from Bryan De La Cruz.

In the second inning, Bellozo got two quick fly balls before Alika Williams grounded to shortstop Xavier Edwards. Edwards got the ball out quickly, but it bounced just in front of the glove of first baseman Jonah Bride, who was unable to field it cleanly.

“We just hurt ourselves in the infield,” Schumaker said. “We gave extra outs, they took advantage of it. You can’t do that when they have their ace on the mound.”

The extra out gave Pittsburgh life. Bellozo allowed a single to Nick Gonzales then allowed a two-run single to Bryan Reynolds before getting Cruz to ground out and end further damage.

“It’s baseball. It’s part of the game,” Bellozo said of the error. “Everybody wants to be perfect, everybody wants to do their job and this is the game.”

Bellozo persevered and allowed only three baserunners over his final 13 batters faced, and it gave the Marlins’ bats a chance to strike against Skenes.

Despite striking out nine times against Skenes, the offense created some scoring opportunities by not trying to do too much and using a lot of opposite-field contact and balls in the infield to put pressure on the basepaths. Otto Lopez was one of two Marlins with two hits off Skenes, and he drove in Miami’s lone run with a two-out single in the fourth inning.

The Marlins set themselves up to potentially chase Skenes in the fifth, when Nick Fortes led off with a walk and Edwards notched his second hit off Skenes to put two on with no outs. Connor Norby struck a ball to the left side of the infield, where third baseman Jared Triolo broke toward just as Fortes was about to cross his path.

Fortes backed away from Triolo, who alertly fired to second base before Edwards could reach it. Fortes motored toward third base but was tagged out for an odd double play at second and third base.

“You just don’t see that play too often, so that’s one of those things where now that you see it, now you do it because you’ve seen it before and maybe you slide,” Schumaker said. “We talk about players doing that at first base when they’re going to second -- don’t run into the tag, get down. But that’s a really tough read. I’m not sure in the moment Fortes could have done much.”

The Marlins rallied in the ninth, with Christian Pache hitting a pinch-hit two-out RBI double, but Aroldis Chapman closed the door. However, in a matchup against a rookie who started in the All-Star Game among other accolades, Bellozo showed what he’s made of and just how well his unique five-pitch mix can play at the highest level 10 starts into his MLB career.

“I think knowing my stuff, how I pitch, what are my successes and where are my strengths, too,” Bellozo said of his growth. “Every outing, there’s something new. Every outing is different.”

“He’s been good,” Schumaker said. “Besides one or two starts, that’s kind of the version you’re going to get: Pitch into the sixth, gives his team a chance every time out, some weak contact, flyball contact. It was on the ground a little bit more today, which was a good sign. But any time he gets into the sixth and we’re able to throw a pretty good bullpen, it gives us a chance.”