Derek Shelton loved everything about the way the Pittsburgh Pirates ended their Grapefruit League game against the Minnesota Twins, with three consecutive strikeouts to seal a shutout.
What got a shout-out from the Pirates manager was the brevity of the 1-0 victory over the Twins on Tuesday afternoon at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla., a game that lasted only 2 hours, 21 minutes.
“Two-twenty, 221,” Shelton said to start his postgame interview, “whatever it takes.”
That Shelton borrowed a famous line from Pittsburgh native Michael Keaton in “Mr. Mom” was poetic, given that his day as a stay-at-home dad saw strong performances from two young right-handed pitchers acquired from the New York Yankees in the Jameson Taillon trade.
Miguel Yajure, 22, threw six of his seven pitches for strikes, didn’t allow a hit and had one strikeout in a scoreless fifth inning. Roansy Contreras, 21, fanned the final three batters in the ninth to earn his first save.
Contreras got a called strike on a slider and a swinging strike on a curve before throwing four consecutive balls to walk Tzu-Wei Lin. While his pitches were off the mark, he touched 98 mph on one four-seam fastball. Contreras then got Keon Broxton swinging on three pitches, caught Caleb Hamilton looking and Aaron Sabato swinging.
“I think I said the first time he pitched it brought a smile, but that was impressive,” Shelton said. “I think the thing that was impressive was that he went breaking ball-breaking ball to start, then I’m guessing he tried to throw it as hard as he could for the next two and ended up walking Lin but comes right back, executing pitches.
“For a kid that pitched in ‘A’ ball last year, that was kind of cool to see. Went back to the breaking ball, was able to execute the fastball down and away. That’s exciting. Like we’ve talked about before, for Pirates fans to see a kid like this come in, a kid we acquired, it was cool.”
The Pirates (11-10-1) got another strong start from Chase De Jong, who allowed one hit and had two strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. De Jong retired the first nine batters he faced, striking out two, before giving up a single to Luis Arraez to start the fourth.
De Jong was pulled after throwing 46 pitches (32 for strikes), and David Bednar came in and struck out Miguel Sano on five pitches to end the fourth. In 11 2/3 innings over four appearances, including two starts, De Jong has allowed only one run this spring.
The Pirates, however, hit into double plays in the second and third innings, and Seton LaSalle graduate Derek Law struck out Bryan Reynolds and Will Craig in the fourth.
The Pirates scored the game’s only run in the sixth, when Adam Frazier hit a leadoff homer that just cleared the right-field fence. Frazier went 2 for 3 to boost his batting average to .586 (17 for 29).
The Pirates also got strong pitching performances from relievers Michael Feliz, who earned the win with a scoreless sixth, and Kyle Crick, who had two strikeouts in the seventh.
But it was the young pitchers who had Shelton “excited.”
“If you don’t know these guys, and you watch them throw bullpens or you watch them throw on the side, then for them to be able to come in and execute in major league spring training games against major league hitters …” Shelton said, explaining his excitement. “I think ‘Yahoo’ threw seven or eight pitches. When we told him he was done, he wanted to go back out. That’s cool. We’re executing, and we’re in the zone, and I think that’s the biggest thing. When you’re able to put the ball in the zone and use your off-speed stuff, it’s really promising.”
Notes: After the game, the Pirates announced a roster move by reassigning right-handed pitcher James Marvel to their minor league camp. That reduces the roster to 47 players, including 25 pitchers. … JT Brubaker is scheduled to start for the Pirates when they play the Atlanta Braves at 1:05 p.m. Wednesday at LECOM Park. Clay Holmes, Chasen Shreve, Nick Mears and Braeden Ogle also are expected to pitch. The game will be televised on AT&T SportsNet.
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Categories: Pirates/MLB | Sports
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