ANAHEIM -- It’s Throwback Weekend at Angel Stadium. The Halos are honoring the 1980s and wearing the uniforms of that decade. The Pirates also went back in time. Saturday night felt a lot like April 2023.
They pitched well, got hits when they needed and -- most important -- won. Victories haven’t been too frequent since the beginning of May and have been even rarer in July.
By beating Los Angeles, 3-0, in the middle game of a weekend series, the Pirates got their fourth “W” of the month. It didn’t come easily -- David Bednar David Bednar walked two batters and hit another to load the bases before inducing a 1-2-3 double play to end the game.
Endy Rodríguez, born at the dawn of the millennium, had a moment for the time capsule: his first Major League home run in the top of the sixth. MLB Pipeline’s No. 35 prospect unloaded on a slider inside and below the zone and sent it a projected 415 feet into the right-center-field seats. Soon after the ball took off, he knew he could savor it.
“For sure,” he said. “The launch angle, the barrel.”
The bat flip was another clue.
The home run came in the rookie’s fifth game. Coming into Saturday, Rodríguez had struck out nine times in 13 trips to the plate, but there’s progression in his approach. He got his first hit on Wednesday and his first extra-base hit on Friday.
“His first six or seven at-bats, he was kind of chasing the ball,” manager Derek Shelton said regarding the catcher’s acclimation. “It looks like he’s back to more of his normal [style].
“There’s a lot of things going on. You’ve got to catch a number of new pitchers and take in all that information. But he’s going to hit. There isn’t any doubt.”
Five Pittsburgh pitchers combined to shut out an Angels team that had posted four or more runs in each of its last nine games. Shelton employed multiple arms, beginning with Ryan Borucki and ending with Bednar. The skipper especially utilized southpaws to combat the Angels’ left-heavy lineup. The Pirates allowed five hits and tallied 12 strikeouts.
“I can’t say enough about how our guys went after them and attacked,” Shelton said.
Osvaldo Bido entered with two outs in the second and found little trouble until the fourth. A leadoff single, a walk and another single had Bido’s eighth career outing bordering on disaster.
His 3-2 pitch to Matt Thaiss was lined at 106 mph. But it went right to second baseman Nick Gonzales. The ball was hit hard enough and shortstop Liover Peguero got to second base quick enough for Gonzales to shovel pass over to Peguero and get Taylor Ward before he could dive back in time.
“That’s the game right there,” Shelton said. “The thing that stands out is seeing two young guys making a heads-up play.”
Bido then fanned Hunter Renfroe.
Injuries and underperformance have necessitated Bido’s entrance into the rotation. It wasn’t a huge sample size -- but with three innings, four hits, a walk, three strikeouts and a big stress test passed -- he showed plenty of nerve.
“He’s an even-keeled dude,” said Borucki, who pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings. “He doesn’t let the moment get too big for him and tonight really showed that.”
Pirates batters were strikeout victims on 13 occasions, but that ends up being more a footnote, considering the outcome. Once Bido and his defense prevented the Angels from scoring in the fourth, the offense capitalized in the fifth.
With one out, Connor Joe drilled a double into right-center-field gap. Bryan Reynolds followed by delivering an RBI single up the middle. Impressive exit velocity and barrel percentage aside, the outfielder came into the night with a .605 OPS since June 1, while other traditional statistics also haven’t been up to his standard. Process and result were equally satisfying this time.
Carlos Santana ensured a crooked number with a double that brought home Reynolds.
Rodríguez’s solo homer opened up the Pirates lead. They needed every amount of comfort when the bottom of the ninth transpired. Easy to overlook in celebration of homer No. 1 was calling shutout No. 1 -- and doing so in a bullpen game. It’s just another step in the progression of a young catcher.
“In that ninth inning [with Bednar], he stayed calm,” Shelton said. “There was no panic and the enthusiasm was there.”