MIAMI – Tony Watson had been looking like the old Tony Watson lately. After getting off to a rough start early in the season, Watson returned to being a dominant pitcher. He hadn’t allowed a run in his last 11 appearances, dating back to April 29th. He hadn’t given up a hit since his appearance on May 6th.
Both of those streaks ended tonight in the eighth inning, as Watson gave up his first hit in almost a month, and his first run in over a month, leading to the Marlins to score the go-ahead run.
Watson got the first two batters, then went 0-2 on Derek Dietrich. He let a pitch get away from him, which hit Dietrich in the forearm, knocking him down on the ground and out of the game. That brought up Adeiny Hechavarria, who connected for a double to bring pinch runner Miguel Rojas all the way around to score.
“He was able to string out the at-bat, fouled off some pitches, and obviously barreled one up that was up over the plate,” Pirates’ Manager Clint Hurdle said of the at-bat.
Watson said that he felt great tonight, and thought he had good stuff, continuing his recent stretch. He credited the Marlins for putting some good at-bats together.
“I just yanked a couple of fastballs, got behind on the count,” Watson said. “Obviously tie game, you don’t want that guy getting to second. I didn’t want to give him anything good to hit, and kept challenging him, and he got me.”
The Pirates got a decent start from Jon Niese, who ran into the same problem Gerrit Cole had last night. Niese worked his way into a few jams, and that eventually cost him a few runs. He started off in the second inning by loading the bases with no outs, which was partially due to a missed catch by John Jaso on a rushed throw from Josh Harrison, who bobbled the ball before throwing. He got out of the jam when David Freese went to home for the force out on a grounder, followed by two straight strikeouts.
“Freese made a great play over at third, coming home with it,” Niese said. “I was just able to grind through those next two at-bats.”
Niese ran into another jam in the fifth inning, putting runners at first and third with one out. He got a grounder to John Jaso, who fired home, but not with enough time for Francisco Cervelli to make the tag, leading to the first run of the game. He then walked Marcell Ozuna to load the bases for Giancarlo Stanton, which isn’t an ideal situation. However, he was able to strike Stanton out for the second out of the inning.
“You’ve got to execute every pitch, and just know in the back of your mind you can’t make a mistake,” Niese said of facing Stanton in that situation. “I just tried to reinforce it, to execute every pitch, and I was able to.”
Niese gave up a second run on a wild pitch in the dirt that Cervelli couldn’t keep in front of him, allowing the runner to score from third base. After an intentional walk, he got Dietrich to pop out to end the inning. That also ended Niese’s outing, as he was up to 95 pitches after five innings.
“He threw 50 pitches in the second and the fifth inning, which got his pitch count where it was,” Hurdle said. “They battled with their at-bats. A couple of miscues by us probably added some pitches on. I thought he pitched a very good game. He kept the ball down again, good mix of his fastball and his cutter. He sprinkled in the changeup. I thought it was a real good effort.”
Just like Watson, Niese entered this start with a good stretch of recent success. In his last four starts, he had a 2.45 ERA and a 3.58 xFIP, turning around his struggles from the start of the season. But Niese didn’t feel like tonight continued that successful run.
“In my standards, no,” Niese said. “Any time I go five or less, it’s not good. I want to go six or more. Realistically, I want to go seven or more. If I don’t get that, then I don’t feel like it’s a quality outing. There’s a lot of positives. There’s some good and bad. So I’m going to take away the positives.”
The Pirates couldn’t get a hit off Marlins’ starter Adam Conley until the sixth inning, when they managed two hits with two outs. They didn’t score, but that was all for Conley after getting out of the jam.
“The swing and miss stuff, he was jamming the fastball in tight to the glove side,” Hurdle said of what was working for Conley. “The slider played extremely well down underneath our bats. And he threw some changeups as well. It was a very good ballgame.”
The Pirates had another chance in the seventh inning, loading the bases for pinch hitter Matt Joyce with one out. Joyce singled through the right side of the infield, bringing in two runs to tie the game. However, Jordy Mercer followed that up by grounding into a double play to end the inning.
Gregory Polanco was scratched from the lineup tonight due to left foot discomfort, but was seen walking around in the dugout late in the game. No word on his status for tomorrow, although I will have an update tomorrow afternoon when more information is available. The Pirates will try to tie the series tomorrow with Juan Nicasio on the mound.
