Brubaker starts strong before Mets take over 

JT Brubaker was nearly on cruise control through five innings against the Mets in a four-game series opener on Friday night at Citi Field. Despite a couple of runs in the third inning, he posted four perfect frames around it and entered the sixth neck and neck with Mets starter Taijuan Walker.

However, it was that sixth inning that did Brubaker in, as he allowed three hits around a walk, including a three-run homer to Pete Alonso that broke the game open and kickstarted a 10-run frame that sent the Pirates to a 13-4 loss.

In the span of just a few swings, the momentum that Brubaker had built heading into the All-Star break in his first full Major League season was cooled by one of the few areas he has trended poorly.

The damage began with a solo home run in the third inning by Jonathan Villar. Brubaker had pounded the zone with regularity in his first two perfect innings, and Villar ambushed a first-pitch slider over the wall in right field.

Brubaker gave up a bloop single to James McCann in the next at-bat -- typical of the kind of weak contact he drew throughout the first five innings -- which cost the right-hander when Brandon Nimmo was able to square up a double.

However, those situations are ones Brubaker has been able to work around with relative success for most of the season, especially in the first couple of months. He bounced back to record eight consecutive outs and entered the sixth inning knotted in a pitchers’ duel with Walker, one of the best starters in the National League this season.

"He was cruising along, at 72 pitches through five,” manager Derek Shelton said. “He was very much in control.”

This time, though, it snowballed, and instead of a strong finish to his first half, Brubaker ended it by giving up 11 runs over his last two starts, allowing four consecutive baserunners. The last was Alonso, whose three-run blast on a first-pitch slider chased the Pirates starter from the game and brought in Sam Howard and Kyle Keller, who allowed the final six runs of the laborious inning.

“I throw it a lot,” Brubaker said of his slider, “and then when I hang it -- for instance, middle-down to Alonso today, a good slider hitter -- it’s going to be backspun and hit out of the park. So it’s just trying to limit the mistake pitches with the slider.”

"It's very important [to have him in] those situations,” Shelton said of keeping Brubaker in vs. Alonso. “Tonight, we saw the negative side of that. We've seen other sides of that where he has executed pitches. He has to continue to learn, he has to continue to get better.”

Things haven’t been all bad for Brubaker this season. In fact, most of his results have improved from 2020. His ERA (4.47), WHIP (1.15), batting average against (.243) and on-base percentage against (.297), among other indicators, have all seen slight gains since 2020.

What Brubaker takes as a sign of clear improvement more than anything is that his K/BB ratio has jumped significantly as his command and attack plan have improved, moving from 2.82 to 4.63.

But the dingers on Friday increased his home runs per nine innings pitched mark to 1.83, up from 1.14 in 11 games (nine starts) last season. Brubaker sees a thread between those opposing trends.

“I think I’ve been really attacking hitters, and I guess that can be kind of a trend with the home runs, too,” he said. “Really just wanting to attack them, so mistake pitches happen.”

If Brubaker is able to limit the long damage, he could wind up rekindling the hot stretch he found himself in to begin the season. Limiting mistakes will be key to that in the second half.

“It seems a lot easier said than done, but that’s what I want to do moving forward after the All-Star break -- just focus on not always trying to throw the perfect pitch, but just making sure I execute a pitch where I need to,” Brubaker said. “And if I miss, it’s going to be down or away from them, not into the zone.”