By Derrick Goold
April 29, 2018
Nick Kingham of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in his major league debut against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on April 29, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (AFP Photo/Justin K. Aller)
PITTSBURGH • The Cardinals had three of his minor-league games on video, a breakdown of his pitches and velocity, and an idea that Pittsburgh rookie Nick Kingham would fall behind in counts with his breaking pitches, nibble at the edges and let them feast on strikes. The fifth pitch of the game Sunday proved otherwise.
Kingham started Tommy Pham off with a slider in the zone in the first inning. That same pitch Greg Garcia first saw in his second at-bat, and though he struck it, he missed driving it.
“You just hadn’t seen it,” Garcia said.
No wonder. It’s a pitch Kingham’s only had for a month.
That new pitch and his overall newness to the Cardinals amplified what was an exceptional major-league debut for the 26-year-old righthander. Kingham retired the first 20 batters he faced and piloted the Pirates to a 5-0 victory Sunday and a series sweep at PNC Park.
The win gave Pittsburgh a franchise record 17 before May 1 with one more game to go, and the three-game wash of the Cardinals moved the Pirates into first place in the bunched National League Central.
The Cardinals took a three-run lead into the ninth inning of Friday’s game, and from that moment on were outscored 15-2 by the Pirates. They didn’t get a runner on base at all during Luke Weaver’s 5 1/3 solid innings. They didn’t get a runner to second base until there was one out in the ninth inning. The Pirates got 27 outs from 30 batters.
Twenty-one belonged to Kingham (1-0).
“Kept my foot on the gas pedal and kept pushing,” said the rookie, once a top-five prospect for the Pirates who missed most of the 2015 and 2016 seasons recovering from elbow surgery. “I haven’t thrown (the slider) for very many starts. I think (it’s) right at 30 days, actually, but I love it. It’s just another tool to add.”
It proved to be another way for the Pirates to suppress the Cardinals’ offense. This early-season series offered a confluence of division rivals who had fattened their record on tanking or troubled teams. The Bucs are 10-2 against Detroit, Cincinnati and Miami so far this season; the Cardinals are 7-0 against the Reds. The test of two teams trying to establish themselves as challengers for the National League Central turned on pitching and Pittsburgh’s ability not just to calm the Cardinals’ lineup but smother it.
Between Paul DeJong’s leadoff single in the seventh inning Saturday and DeJong’s single to shatter Kingham’s perfecto Sunday in the seventh, the Cardinals went zero for 30.
The only batter in that time to reach base was on an error.
As puzzling as Kingham proved, the Pirates’ bullpen was even more dominant. In the three-game series, Bucs relievers pitched 11 2/3 shutout innings and struck out more Cardinals (11) than they allowed baserunners (eight). The 6 1/3 shutout innings Friday bought time to rally from a five-run deficit. The two scoreless Sunday just salted a series — and a trend. In the age of aggressive bullpen use, not all bullpens are as pliant as in the past.
“When their starter is gone that usually means good results are going to happen,” manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s what our offense is going to do. We grind at-bats. That was the one time we got a little something going (Sunday). Long at-bats create more opportunities. For mistakes happen. The more frequently you throw, the more pitches you have to throw, the more likelihood of making a mistake.”
Kingham made few, if any.
Garcia made the point that the righthander “definitely had more video on us than we had on him.” The three games were not from an ideal angle and didn’t give a complete picture of what Kingham could do. The jump from 2D scouting to 3D hitting is always difficult, and the slider and Kingham’s sudden willingness to throw strikes were added wrinkles. DeJong opted not to scout the video on Kingham, preferring to get his velocity, his movement and his out pitch. With that information, DeJong, batting third for the first time this season, wanted to read and react during the game. What he saw was unexpected as “he just came out pounding the zone,” Garcia said. Twenty-one of his first 25 pitches were strikes.
“I think, honestly, he didn’t pitch like we thought he was going to pitch,” DeJong said. “We were expecting him to be around the zone, fall behind early, and not have a ton of command with his offspeed (pitches). He had it. And it showed.”
He and Weaver (2-2), two young pitchers, both pitched with savvy, taking advantage of the strike zone given them. Home plate umpire Ed Hickox called a consistent strike zone for both teams that had some elasticity on each side. He gave both pitchers an avenue to the inside edge, and they accepted. Kingham caught Marcell Ozuna looking at a pitch there to open the second. On his way to nine strikeouts, he K’d all three Cardinals in the second inning and six of the first 10 he faced.
Weaver matched him zero for zero through five innings before tiptoeing into trouble in the sixth. Four consecutive batters reached base against Weaver, though that included an infield hit and a bloop hit. Weaver smartly pitched around lefthanded hitter Corey Dickerson to face backup catcher Elias Diaz. He upped his average to .484 (15 for 31) with three hits Sunday, and he broke a scoreless tie with a two-run single against Weaver.
The Cardinals’ righthander was pleased with his pitch and its location. He was able to spot a curveball low and bending away. Diaz reached over the plate and poked it to right field for a bases-loaded, two-run single. Add that detail to his scouting report. Four runs would count against Weaver from that inning. Diaz would also score in the ninth on David Freese’s pinch-hit RBI single off Greg Holland.
“They’re a hot team right now, and they’re finding that momentum and going with it,” Weaver said. “I can walk off the mound knowing I threw a good pitch, and it got hit. I have to take that same mentality out there the next time — be aggressive — and know that it will work out.”
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