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.
“I think anytime you go six innings and give up three, two or less runs, I think you’re gonna be in a good spot,” Mlodzinski said. “It felt good to be efficient at the end of the day.”
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.
Mlodzinski also lowered his ERA to 1.77, having allowed just four earned runs in 20 1/3 innings.
“I think Carmen came in and was really, really good tonight,” Kelly said. “It looked like everything was a little bit better synced up, maybe, delivery-wise, from Chicago. He was in the zone; the stuff was electric. He was able to throw everything for a strike and then go for swing-and-miss, too, when he needed to.”
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. Gregory Soto pitched a one-two-three eighth inning, and Dennis Santana finished things off in the ninth to help shut out the Nationals for the first time this season.
Kelly couldn't have mapped it out any better.
“[Mlodzinski] definitely showed that it didn't matter for him, whatever the team needed,” Montgomery said. “He had the team’s best interest in mind and went out there and shoved like he had been.”
Kelly echoed his starter’s sentiment, saying that the outing spoke volumes not just about Mlodzinski’s competitiveness, but his selflessness as well.
“I think any starting pitcher would prefer to start the game, [but] his mindset going into it was whatever we feel is best and gives us the best chance to win,” Kelly said. “I think he showed that in his outing today.”
It’s no secret that Mlodzinski has handled right-handed batters (.182) much better than left-handed batters (.295) this season. Mlodzinski said his situation was a bit of a reality check, saying that while he is willing to compete in any position that gives his team the best chance to win, he needs to be less of a matchup-based pitcher.
“I worked pretty hard this week on fastball command,” Mlodzinski said. “I think I've kind of struggled with that the last few weeks.”
Earlier in the week, Kelly said in a pregame press conference that the competitiveness of his starting rotation has been contagious, dating back to last season, and it has led to heightened camaraderie in the group.
After firing his best outing of the season, Mlodzinski echoed this sentiment.
“Everybody around me is throwing the ball really well,” Mlodzinski said. “We’re competing off of each other. That's something we set as something we wanted to do coming into the season.”