Williams in unenviable position after G1 loss

PITTSBURGH -- After his last start in Kansas City, Trevor Williams diagnosed his biggest problem. “I have to stop giving up homers,” he said after allowing two more last Saturday. “It’s really that simple.”

Correcting that issue has not been so simple for Williams, however. The Cardinals hit a pair of homers off him as he gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings in the Pirates’ 6-5 loss to St. Louis in Game 1 of their seven-inning doubleheader Friday at PNC Park.

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Kolten Wong hit a leadoff shot down the right-field line off Williams, smacking an 0-2 fastball off the foul pole. Tyler O’Neill launched a full-count fastball to right-center in the second for a two-run homer. Of the 14 homers Williams has allowed this season, six have come in two-strike counts. A whopping 12 of them have come on heaters.

Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI double to left was the Cards’ biggest hit in a two-run third inning, then an errant throw by shortstop Kevin Newman in the fourth led to another run scoring.

"I think at this level you have to understand that sometimes the ball is not going to bounce your way,” Williams said. “You're not going to catch breaks, and in a year like this year, you're looking to catch some breaks every five days and you're hoping that's going to happen. And you can't let one thing or two things affect the way that you pitch and affect your identity as a pitcher.”

The Pirates were down four runs after 3 1/2 innings, but they climbed back into the game with a three-run fourth. They missed several opportunities to complete the comeback, though, finishing 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranding 10 men on base. They loaded the bases with two outs in a wild seventh inning, but catcher John Ryan Murphy flied out to left field to end it.

“We got down early, gave ourselves a chance -- a couple of chances at the end -- to get it done,” Murphy said. “The more you give yourselves chances, the more chance you're going to have to succeed."

Fifty games into this 60-game season, Williams’ numbers leave him in an unenviable position. He owns a 6.70 ERA after 10 starts, the fifth-worst mark in the Majors among pitchers who have worked at least 40 innings. Opponents are hitting .310 against him. Williams is in a tie with Toronto’s Tanner Roark for the most homers allowed in baseball. He leads MLB with eight losses.

As good as Williams was in 2018 -- especially in the second half -- he’s put together back-to-back disappointing seasons: an inconsistent, injury-interrupted 2019, and now this. The Pirates haven’t announced their rotation plans past this series against the Cardinals, but Williams said he’ll make one more start over the final week of the season.

“We are trending up as far as the process of what we are getting better with -- my arm action, my pitch selection, how I use my body to throw. Obviously, you want results now in the season like we have. You want to see the results as fast as possible,” Williams said. “But to finish this year with 11 starts, which is a third of what we get, the process can't really come to fruition because we don't have a full season.”

Williams and Murphy spoke optimistically about the work the right-hander has done between starts, and Williams offered a reminder of how extraordinarily difficult this season has been beyond just what happens on the field. When Williams reported to Pittsburgh, he said goodbye to his family -- his wife and three young children, who allow him to take his mind off baseball at home under normal circumstances -- for at least three months.

“It's been hard for me to keep up and stay up, and I know as soon as I get home, I'll have a jolt of energy,” Williams said. “Four or five days without baseball and it's going to be, you know, champing at the bit to get out there, reprove myself and show people what I have."

Williams said he’s looking forward to continuing the work he’s begun this season as soon as he returns home to Arizona. But where do the Pirates go from here with Williams?

Pittsburgh has some depth in its rotation. Jameson Taillon, Mitch Keller, Joe Musgrove, Steven Brault, Chad Kuhl, JT Brubaker, Cody Ponce and Williams are all under club control for next season and beyond, and the Pirates will want to continue to look at their younger arms next year as well.

Williams will be eligible for salary arbitration for the second time this winter, and his statistics seemingly position him as a candidate to be non-tendered, unless the Bucs’ front office believes this season has been a small-sample aberration -- or a simple problem he can correct.

"It's something that's outside of my control. We've had some conversations, but nothing as far as what does it look like? I trust in them,” Williams said. “I trust in these guys. I felt like they've trusted me as well. It's something that's out of my control. Just take it when the offseason comes."