I think it’s been well established that Rowdy Tellez is a good teammate inside the clubhouse.
That was shown immediately after the Pirates beat the Twins 4-0 on Saturday. While celebrating at the mound, Yasmani Grandal removed Tellez’s hat and waved it to the crowd. This followed earlier moments where the home crowd at PNC Park cheered Tellez on for his late inning heroics that led to three of the four Pirates runs.
Tellez hit a solo homer in the seventh inning on Saturday night, breaking a scoreless tie after four Pirates relievers had combined for seven shutout innings. He came up big again in the eighth inning. With two outs, and runners at second and third, Tellez delivered a single that brought in two more runs. After advancing to second on a balk, Tellez scored on a Michael A. Taylor single.
The problem with Tellez this year is that he hasn’t been hitting. It’s been to the point where 33-year-old Jake Lamb has looked like an upgrade with an .800-900 OPS in Triple-A. The clubhouse benefit is nice, but that should be a bonus to production from first base.
Fortunately, it looks like Tellez might be breaking out of his season-long slump. Saturday’s game was the third game in his last four where Tellez picked up multiple hits. That started with a three hit game last Sunday, where he was hitting until the very end, while trying to hit the Pirates back into the game.
If there’s one thing that has stood out to me over the last week, it’s that Tellez is not only playing hard until the final out, but he seems to be dialed in at the plate, and not doing too much with his swings. He’s just getting hits, and the power has shown up with two doubles and the homer.
The Pirates have been banking on a turnaround from Tellez. They even gave him nearly a week off at the end of May to try and get him on track. Hopefully the last week is a sign of what’s to come through the rest of the season from Tellez.
Pirates Pitching Depth
Carmen Mlodzinski got the start on Saturday night, picking up the first five outs of the game, before turning the ball over to Luis Ortiz with only a hit batter to Mlodzinski’s record.
Ortiz retired the final batter of the second inning, then returned to pitch four more shutout frames. Ortiz allowed three hits, one walk, and struck out three.
Recent addition Justin Bruihl picked up two outs, while allowing two hits in the seventh. Hunter Stratton bailed him out with the final out of the inning, before Tellez hit his homer to break the scoreless tie. That set up Colin Holderman and David Bednar for scoreless innings to end the game.
It was a great group performance by the Pirates relievers to combine for the six-man shutout. The Pirates went with a bullpen game due to the injury to Quinn Priester.
The Pirates will need a starter by the end of the upcoming week. They could opt to go with a bullpen game again, giving the ball to Ortiz and a combination of relievers. If they want a starting pitcher, the options are slim.
Domingo German was signed as depth out of Triple-A, but has a 7.97 ERA in four starts at the level. The Pirates also wanted him to show that he could handle pitching while working through issues with substance abuse relating to alcohol. It’s possible they could turn to him for a spot start, but he’s walked 14 in 20.1 innings, and isn’t on the 40-man roster.
The best option for a short-term start might be Braxton Ashcraft. He’s pitching out of the Double-A rotation, and has looked like one of the best starters in the minor league system over the last month. Ashcraft has a 1.89 ERA in 33.1 innings over his last six starts, with 46 strikeouts and six walks. He struck out 12 batters in seven innings during his most recent start, making that the second double-digit strikeout game during the last month.
The starting depth is growing thin at this point in the season. Fortunately, the Pirates have a lot of middle relief options, and they showed on Saturday that a bullpen game wouldn’t be a bad option.
Still, it would be nice to see what Ashcraft could do with his upper-90s fastball and plus slider. Especially since he’s on the 40-man roster.
Saturday’s Minor League Action
Termarr Johnson hit his fifth homer of the year for Greensboro on Saturday night. The 2022 fourth overall pick has been heating up over the last three weeks, which I detailed in today’s Pirates Prospect Watch.
Pirates Prospect Watch: Termarr Johnson is Heating Up at the Plate
If you missed it yesterday, the latest in the Saturday Sleepers series looks at FCL infielder Yordany De Los Santos.
Saturday Sleepers: Yordany De Los Santos Named FCL Player of the Month
