Anthony DeSclafani had the shortest start of his career on Thursday night. The right-handed pitcher lasted only two innings, and those two innings were about as rough as they get in Major League Baseball, as he allowed nine deserved runs on nine hits, two walks, and three home runs, while scoring just one of the 17 hit hitters he faced.
In his first two starts of the season, DeSclafani had allowed only five hits, no runs but one walk, and he struck out eight fighters between games against Detroit and Milwaukee. What was the difference? Well, it looks like the Pirates knew what was coming.
“For me, we tipped a little bit that he tipped,” catcher Tucker Barnhart said after the game. ‘I would rather not say exactly what it was, but we got a tip that he was tipping. I feel like we caught it a little late for the most part, but yeah, I think that was it. I think his bike was fine, he just splashed the ball around a bit. Was not as sharp as I’ve seen him before, clearly, I think he would tell you the same thing. Just forget about this and move on to five days from now. ‘
After the game, manager David Bell talked about why he let DeSclafani in for as long as he did.
‘We’re used to seeing Disco so well. You’re waiting for him to turn it around and she looks like she’s on everything, ”Bell said. ‘You hate him for keeping him out, but he’s such a good pitcher, and seeing our situation (with the bull not getting any of the tall men) – he gave us everything he had in the 2nd inning to get us out. That was it for his night. I do not have the answers. When I talked to him during the game, he did not have the answers. Maybe it was just one of those nights, but we’ll definitely see it. “
If anything, it’s going to be good to get rid of a game that went the way it did, throwing the ballpoint pen and throwing 7.0 shutout innings, including multiple innings by both Cody Reed and Michael Lorenzen – both of whom have some trouble hand at times this season. Jesse Winker put his tears through on the record, while Nick Senzel and Freddy Galvis also put big nights together and both pressed their OPS on the season over the .850 mark.
