PITTSBURGH -- In the midst of a great year for Chris Stratton and his family, they had a scare last week.

The Stratton family’s dog, Ace, escaped from the backyard of their house in Shadyside. Stratton and his wife Martha Kate put out the call on Twitter. They posted flyers. They talked to dozens and dozens of people in Shadyside and the surrounding neighborhoods.

A few days later, the family got calls that he’d been spotted. As Stratton went out on a road trip with the team to Kansas City on Monday and Tuesday, Martha Kate kept the search effort going with the radius narrowed down to the Martin Luther King Jr. busway, which cuts through Polish Hill and Upper Hill.

Then, on Wednesday -- a scheduled off-day for the Pirates -- Stratton returned and joined the scouting team. When they pulled up to where Ace had last been spotted, the dog recognized him, pranced over and turned on his back for a belly rub.

“He’s at home,” Stratton said. “He’s definitely sleepy. He’s not eating too much, so we don’t really know what he’s been getting into eating-wise, but somebody was feeding him. Either that or he was hunting down some wild game or something.”

What stood out the most to Stratton, though, was how Pittsburgh stepped up to help his family. He said the family’s messages on social media “spread like wildfire,” including a call to use the TrailTrax tracking app to log any sightings of Ace. And every single person Stratton said he talked to wanted to pitch in.

“Any person we ran into, we were asking, ‘Have you seen this dog?’ And they were like, ‘No, but what’s your number? If I see him, I’ll reach out as soon as I can,’” Stratton said. “There was not one person who was like, ‘Nah, I haven’t seen him’ and just kept walking. Every single person just wanted to help.”

It’s turned the 30-year-old Stratton into an even bigger fan of the city he moved to in 2019, when he was traded by the Angels to the Pirates. And he says the level of comfortability he’s felt here -- both on and off the field -- have helped him to settle in and produce the best numbers of his Major League career, including a career-best 2.90 ERA this season.

One day after recovering Ace, Stratton showed his ace stuff Friday as the latest installment of his great season. Pirates starter Mitch Keller had to exit the game against the Marlins after two innings due to a “heat illness,” which manager Derek Shelton said that Keller has recovered well from.

Duane Underwood Jr. went two innings, followed by Chasen Shreve for 1 1/3 innings. Then, Stratton entered with one out in the sixth.

“For me to tell you that I thought he was going to go 3 2/3 [innings], I think I'd be lying to you,” Shelton said after the 9-2 win.

But that’s just what the long reliever did, retiring 11 consecutive batters to preserve the Pirates’ bullpen for the last two games of their four-game series with the Marlins and earning his second career save.

It’s the first time this century that a Pirates reliever recorded a save of at least that long. Jason Christiansen was the last Bucs pitcher to do so, locking down a four-out save on July 17, 1998, against the Montreal Expos. However, Stratton has done it before; he notched a four-out save for the Giants on July 25, 2017, to save Madison Bumgarner’s arm for an upcoming series against the Dodgers.

“He picked us up big time right there with the four innings,” said Adam Frazier, who said he hadn’t seen anyone do that since college ball. “That saved our bullpen a lot, and I'm happy for him, and I think all the guys down there are pretty happy for him, too.”

For his part, Stratton is happy, too. Martha Kate gave birth to a daughter, the couple’s third child, this spring. At his day job, he’s in a bullpen where he feels everyone fits in and can rely upon one another. And he loves the city he’s called home for the past few years, with a community that’s supported him

“I think just kind of knowing I belong is a big part of it,” Stratton said.