Lyles carries load as Bucs suppress Cards

ST. LOUIS -- The Pirates took a calculated gamble on Jordan Lyles this offseason, agreeing to sign the journeyman right-hander on the same December day they dealt away established, well-liked starter Iván Nova. Pittsburgh’s front office believed Lyles possessed potential that hadn’t yet translated into performance.

Seven starts into the season, Lyles is proving them right.

Lyles delivered another strong start on Saturday afternoon against the Cardinals, overcoming a nearly three-hour rain delay and a 30-pitch first inning in the Pirates’ second straight 2-1 win at Busch Stadium. Lyles held the Cards to one hit and struck out six over six innings, and the back end of Pittsburgh’s bullpen finished the job.

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The outing lowered Lyles’ ERA to 2.09, which ranks fifth among qualified National League starters and sixth in the Majors. Lyles has held opponents to one run or fewer in five of his seven starts this season. Only once has he allowed more than two runs.

“There comes a point in time in guys’ careers where they figure out who they are, they like who they are, then they go pitch like who they are,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “I think Lyles got to that point last season, and he’s got more opportunity this year.”

The Pirates gave the 28-year-old Lyles a chance to prove himself as a starter after he shuttled between the rotation and bullpen for three different teams over the past three seasons. While pitching sporadically in relief for the Brewers late last season, Lyles increased the usage of his four-seam fastball up in the strike zone and started throwing his out-pitch curveball more often.

That combination -- the high fastball and the diving curveball that approach hitters on the same plane -- caught the Pirates’ attention. Lyles used to rely on a sinker, and as he joked on Saturday, that strategy “didn’t turn out too well” when he pitched in Colorado’s Coors Field. His current plan is working out just fine.

“That’s definitely the thing that’s helped me turn things around -- learning to throw that [curveball] then learning to place my fastball behind my curveball,” Lyles said. “Those points right there have helped me turn the corner and go in the right direction, for sure.”

Actually, Lyles is underselling himself when he says he’s heading in the right direction. In his past 15 appearances dating back to Aug. 28, he owns a 1.65 ERA.

“It goes back to our conviction in him, his conviction to want to start,” Hurdle said. “You match them up, then you give him the opportunity.”

Lyles showed on Saturday that he’s able to improvise, too. He has a deep arsenal, even if he now features two pitches more prominently than the rest. But when the Cardinals started laying off his curveball, he dug out his slider to keep them off-balance.

Lyles had only thrown his slider 7.5 percent of the time this season while relying primarily on his four-seam fastball (40.9 percent) and curveball (32.8 percent). But on Saturday, he threw more fastballs (59 of his 101 pitches) and sliders (16) while using fewer curveballs (21) and changeups (five).

“Definitely the most sliders I’ve thrown this year. Kind of canned it the first couple outings, tweaked it here and there, started working on it in between starts,” Lyles said. “Guys were laying off the curveball really well; there were a couple two-strike counts that I threw really quality curveballs in the dirt. That’s a good sign of what’s in their game plan as opposed to myself, so we definitely took a detour and went the slider route.”

Like Trevor Williams on Friday night, Lyles had to grind through the first inning. By the end of the third inning, he had thrown 70 pitches and given up the first run of the game. He walked Paul Goldschmidt with two outs in the third, then Paul DeJong launched a double to right field that Gregory Polanco couldn’t reel in.

But Lyles settled down after that, retiring the final 10 hitters he faced. Williams saved the bullpen on Friday, but the Bucs’ battered ‘pen is still in need of support. Lyles carried the load on Saturday by breezing through his final three innings on 31 pitches.

“It’s not the way you draw it up coming out of the blocks, but he was steadfast in his approach and his conviction with pitches, and he stayed in the hunt,” Hurdle said. “He got us to where we needed to get in the game and gave us a shot, obviously, to win it.”

After the Cardinals broke the scoreless tie, the Pirates immediately rallied to take the lead. Starling Marte led off the fourth inning with a single to left, Polanco pulled an RBI triple to right, and Josh Bell (retired) extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games with a line-drive RBI single.

Those were the only three hits PIttsburgh had against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas during his seven innings on the mound. The way Lyles pitched, it was just enough to win.

“That sequence switched things around for us -- Marte staying on a breaking ball and pounding it through the left side, then the next two balls off the barrel were lasers,” Hurdle said. “We didn’t get much going after that, but it all played for us.”