PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates didn't reveal their Wednesday night starting pitcher until late the night before. When they finally did, the announcement revealed a highly unusual plan.
Left-hander Mason Montgomery, who pitched an inning in relief in Tuesday’s loss, was called upon to become just the sixth Pirates pitcher since 1961 to start a game the following day. Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly tasked the third-year big leaguer with his first career start in an opener’s role to tackle some of the talented left-handed bats atop the Nationals’ lineup.
Kelly’s plan worked to perfection during a 2-0 victory at PNC Park.
Montgomery did his job, dealing a scoreless first inning before giving way to Pittsburgh’s trusty Swiss Army knife, Carmen Mlodzinski. The righty, who has appeared in just about every role for the Bucs over the past few years, came in out of the bullpen and promptly fired six scoreless innings. He struck out five, walked only two and needed just 81 pitches to finish his assignment.
After he hit CJ Abrams to begin his outing, Mlodzinski retired eight consecutive hitters, needing just 12 pitches in the second and third innings. Mlodzinski worked around a two-out walk in the fourth to keep Washington off the board.
Mlodzinski later had to dig deep to escape the fifth, with runners on first and second and just one out, but he once again kept Washington scoreless. The Nationals got a runner into scoring position in the sixth, but Mlodzinski stranded him there. He needed just 10 pitches to get through the frame and made quick work of the Nationals again in the seventh to complete his outing. The right-hander became the first Pirates reliever to work at least six scoreless frames since Steve Cooke threw seven against the Cardinals on Sept. 21, 1992.
Gregory Soto pitched a one-two-three eighth inning, and Dennis Santana finished things off in the ninth.
Pittsburgh struck for a pair of runs in the first inning on a walk and a trio of singles. Marcell Ozuna and Nick Gonzales each collected an RBI, and it was the only offense the Pirates' pitching staff needed the rest of the way.
With the bounce-back victory, Pittsburgh hasn't lost consecutive games since opening the season with a pair of losses.