Pirates Notebook 7/20; Last night’s walk-off, Luis Ortiz’s biggest test yet, Tellez’s historic feat and more

Opening up the notebook after a walk-off win.

• The walk-off win via a Nick Gonzales ground ball single through a drawn-in Phillies infield last night came in front of the largest home crowd at PNC Park since April 2015; the official attendance was 39,530.
• The offense battled back from two different three-run deficits. Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, and Andrew McCutchen all had multiple hits.
• Do the Pittsburgh Pirates win that game without that successful double steal in the 9th? I’m not sure that they do. Took the double play out of the equation and put a whole lot of pressure on both the Phillies closer José Alvarado to get some swings and misses and the Phillies defense to execute perfectly if a ball was put in play.
• Last night’s game was incredibly fun… except for starter Martin Perez. He’s got an ERA of 7.87 in 42.1 innings across nine starts since the end of April. I wonder if last night’s performance, where he only went 3.2 and gave up six earned runs, was the last time we see him in the rotation for the time being. I’m not sure how much longer they can run him out there.
• You could also file Ke’Bryan Hayes’ night under ‘not fun’. Hayes went 0-4 with a strikeout, lowering his OPS for the year to .600. The ability to drive the ball has completely disappeared. This might be a new low point in his career.
• At 49-48 the Pirates are over .500 heading into a game on this date for the first time since 2016. They’re a half game back of the last Wild Card spot.
• Bryan Reynolds had three more hits last night, bringing his average for the year to .288. He’s played every game this year, he’s 3rd in the NL in hits with 113, 9th in slugging, and 9th in OPS. He’s hitting .341/.393/.616 since the start of June.
• Rowdy Tellez had three sacrifice flies. Since 1954, when sac flies were first tracked, there have been 11 players to hit three in one game. He’s the first to have three in one game since José López in 2008 and the first National League player to do it since Candy Maldanado in 1987. He is also the first Pirate to accomplish the feat.

• I love getting high school SS Konnor Griffin at ninth overall in the draft. Questions about the hit tool caused him to drop to ninth, but he has the ceiling to be the best player to come out of this class. Timelines shouldn’t be a major factor, and in baseball, you should never ever draft for positional need. I heard a bunch of gripes from fans about how it was ‘another middle infielder’ and that complaint couldn’t make less sense. You take the best player and athlete available and figure it out later. There are so many position players in the MLB that were drafted or otherwise acquired as middle infielders that have moved elsewhere on the diamond.
• Coming off a rough 2023, Luis Ortiz has really turned it around and done mostly great work since moving into a starter/bulk role. He’s cut down on the walks considerably, and he’s back to throwing the fastball with conviction in the zone. Since he started being stretched out at the beginning of June, he’s allowed just three walks and struck out 33 batters in 36 innings of work. He faces perhaps his biggest test yet tonight against a Philadelphia Phillies squad that features four players with a wRC+ over 130.
• The Pirates have won five in a row, the longest active win streak in baseball. With the trade deadline just a little over a week away, this team is making a good case that they should be buyers. Getting a player capable of playing CF should be the priority. Pirates CFs have combined for a wRC+ of just 59 this year, that’s the second worst in MLB.
• It looks like it’s going to be another sellout tonight. Hopefully it’s a good one.