NEW YORK – About half an hour before tonight’s game, the Pirates changed their lineup, scratching Francisco Cervelli with an illness, and putting Elias Diaz in the lineup, batting eighth. Diaz looked like a number four hitter tonight with his performance, hitting a bases loaded, three-run triple, along with his first MLB home run in the next at-bat, totaling six RBIs on the evening.
“This has been an incredible evening,” Diaz said through team translator Mike Gonzalez. “Something that embarks my journey and this career, and something that I’m looking forward to. This has been a great night, and I give all the glory to God.”
The idea that Diaz would never forget this night was reflected throughout the locker room. Clint Hurdle said it after the game in his post-game conference. Gerrit Cole said it when discussing how Diaz played for him behind the plate. Josh Bell added in a unique perspective as someone who played a lot with Diaz in the minors.
“It was unreal,” Bell said. “Especially playing with him so many years in the minors. He always gets talked about with his defense. Everyone is ranting and raving about his arm, but he’s got pop too. He can change a game with his bat.”
Bell got caught up in the moment when Diaz hit a three run homer in the sixth inning.
“I was screaming ‘Get up! Get up!’ and I looked and that ball doesn’t need to get up at all,” Bell said. “It’s already out.”
I made a few Wally Pipp/Lou Gehrig jokes on Twitter during the game, noting Cervelli’s illness led to a big night from Diaz. I don’t expect Diaz to take the starter role from Cervelli, and I don’t believe that decision should be made on one game. That said, I do think the question has to be raised about the future role for Diaz, and whether the Pirates should bring him up for good, rather than keeping him as a luxury in Triple-A. He’s the eventual starter in Pittsburgh, and they need to see what they have in him at some point.
So far, the biggest thing that has held him back has been his health, getting injured at inopportune times.
“This guy has put himself in position way before this to help out, but health has always been an issue,” Hurdle said. “Now he’s healthy. He’s gone and played, he’s doing his reps and he’s doing his work. A couple of short, quick looks. Unfortunately, not a lot of playing time. More playing time in Spring Training than anywhere else. This is an opportunity that has been presented to him, and he’s ready. He looked good. He looked good with the touch and the feel with the different guys coming in. The blocking part of the game was established early for him tonight. The framing part. And working a tough night with both starters having some challenges. He just kept staying with Cole, and once we got to the other guys in the bullpen, we got some big swings and misses and he was part of that as well.”
Diaz has actually been healthy all throughout his career, up until the 2016 season, which was full of injuries. That season also presented his best opportunity to make the majors, and if things went differently, we might be sitting here with Diaz as the starting catcher right now. The Pirates still have a good catcher in Cervelli, although Diaz gives them a great backup option to provide insurance, which is needed when considering Cervelli’s injury history.
Diaz showed tonight just how much he belongs, stepping in to the game with very little prep work and very little notice that he would be playing.
“He played fantastic,” Cole said. “He was great behind the dish all night for me. It’s not easy to catch a guy when you’re not getting the kind of results you really want. Obviously he picked us up from the offensive really tremendously. … Diaz is a professional catcher. Obviously he’s not Cervy, but he’s more than capable of doing the job.”
With Chris Stewart out, and with Cervelli dealing with an unspecified illness right now, along with season-long ailments, this could finally be the opportunity Elias Diaz needs to prove himself in the majors.
“I’m very grateful,” Diaz said. “Yes, I have gone through a lot, but these are the things that helped me get here. I’ve kept my head up, I’ve kept working hard, and I’m just glad to be here. This is my career. This is where I’m headed.”
Bell Makes a Key Adjustment
Josh Bell had been struggling lately, but seemed to get back on track tonight, going 2-for-4 with a home run.
“It felt like forever since I had done that,” Bell said of the homer.
It had actually been since May 18th. He followed that game with a .430 OPS in his next 13 games, which led to a key adjustment tonight. After striking out in his first at-bat, Bell made a switch in the middle of the second at-bat, going back to a no stride swing.
“The first at-bat I was struggling,” Bell said. “In the second at-bat I was sitting heater away, and kind of pulled off it. If I had hit it fair, it would have been capped. Just for me to feel that bad on a pitch I’m looking for, I kind of sold out and ended up squaring a ball up through the hole on the right side. The next AB I stuck with it. It kind of stinks it took so long for me to try to find it. I’ll just look forward.”
Bell has made a lot of adjustments over the years, so making a quick in-game adjustment to the swing is probably second nature to him by now. He said he will stick with this approach as long as it is working, and will let the results dictate that, more than the feel.
“I’m more of a feel guy,” Bell said. “If it feels good, I’m going to roll with it. But results help too. When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter how I feel in batting practice. When the lights turn on, and the game is in play, you’ve got to perform there.”
Hurdle noticed the change with Bell, noting that he had less movement with his old swing, especially in the lower half, which was preventing his hands from being synced up.
“He quieted his lower half, he synced his hands up a little bit, and he got some much better swings on it and made some impactful contact the rest of the game,” Hurdle said. “He made a couple of nice defensive plays as well.”
Game Notes
**I’ll write more about Gerrit Cole’s recent home run problems tomorrow, but the quick summary tonight was pretty straight forward.
“It’s just been a little bit of an undesirable go here the last three times,” Cole said. “The fifth, it just kind of got away from me here. The ball is a little out of whack. The location and the crispness of the pitches suffered.”
Hurdle said that the issue comes down to bad located pitches, and had a simple reason for the recent struggles:
“This is the big leagues, and I think people lose sight of that until somebody who has done some good things runs into a tough time, and everyone wants to throw their hands up and say what’s wrong?” Hurdle said. “Hitters are hot, he’s not executing pitches, and he’s paying for it. That’s pretty simplistic. It’s probably got the most truth to it than anything else we can talk about.”
**Hurdle didn’t have any updates on Cervelli’s illness, deferring to Head Athletic Trainer Todd Tomczyk.
