Our 2 Takeaways From Pirates 3-2 Extra-Inning Win over the Padres

Yo. Welcome to the North Shore Nine podcast presented by FanDuel. This is the NS9 postgame show. Powered by Brandy Brothers. I'm your host, Anthony DiNardo. This is Neil. It is 2 a.m.

I quit. I'm done. It's 2 o'clock in the morning. Worst loss of the season. Oh, my gosh.

I'm obviously happy. What do you mean the worst loss? It was a win. Did I say loss? I meant first win. Worst win of the season.

Because my worry. Four hours of just nothing happening and no one able to score in extras.

What a mess of the game. We are so lucky to walk out of that with a win.

Man, I'm telling you, what is it? 19 hours ago, I woke up and did a podcast and the same day, 19 hours later, I'm doing a podcast about this.

You're right. You're right. Like, it goes into extras. And again, like, I'm not wanting the Pirates to lose, but I wanted this game to end and no one wanted to score.

Until finally, Nick Gonzales goes in and drives in the game-winning run and extras here in the Pirates walk away with this with a 3-2 victory against the Padres.

And as mentioned, it is 2 o'clock in the morning. Let's make this quick, Neil.

People, if you want some sandwiches, get the hashtag raised. It's in the comments.

We'll get this out to you as quickly as possible so we can all go to bed.

How are there people up for this? Like, we're contractually obligated to be here, but like, these people are here on their own.

I tweeted, and it was like an hour ago when I tweeted as well. I was like, who's still up with us?

And everyone's like, unfortunately, I am. I don't know why.

I feel you. I understand.

yeah, I feel like this win would hit, like, if the Pirates were in it, like, if this, not even in a playoff spot, like, in the race, this would be like a special post-game, I feel like.

Like, we slogged through four hours, and like, you fought, and you got out of it, and you came out with this huge, gritty win against a team you'd be competing for the playoff spot.

And instead, it's like, we're still seven games out.

Well, we're still so far away.

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, again, I don't know if that's really what matters at this point in time, but still playing good baseball does matter, and it starts with Braxton Ashcraft today.

Braxton took the mound today, and he looked good, once again, looked good.

It's quite a shame, as you see here in the overlay, what are you balking about?

that was the story of this game, which that happened five hours ago, I believe.

I don't even remember exactly what happened now, but the story was Braxton Ashcraft just absolutely shoved today, and obviously the Pirates were facing a lefty, and we know how that was going to go.

Which it went precisely how we expected, but Braxton was up there, and he did what this team needed to do, what the team needed from him to do.

He went up there and shoved, and he unfortunately gets that one in the earned run column today because of a balk that had everyone quite confused, and I think we have enough information to break it down here.

But he gives up a run, which at the time he left as a 2-1 ballgame, Pirates in the lead.

But that was like the blemish, and it was self-imposed because of a balk, a weirdish rule in baseball.

And he was pissed.

Yeah.

rightfully so.

I get the rule where you have to declare before each at bat.

But man, like, my only issue really is that letting the entire play go and then only calling the bulk after that.

I'm like, what are we doing here?

That's my only thing.

I feel like it should be pretty self-explanatory that you do that immediately.

I've never seen a bulk call that late.

Never in my life.

So, of course, we're talking about this behind the scenes in the chat.

And like I said, I remember this just happening not too long ago.

And now I remember it was Chris Sale.

It was the same situation.

Guy was on third.

He was running.

Play happened.

I don't know the exact part of that.

again, the ump just points.

Play happens.

And then they call afterwards.

There was a balk.

So, yeah, it's just one of those.

We've seen plenty of weird things with the Pirates.

the Pirates fell victim of the four-out rule not too long ago.

And we just saw that recently in baseball as well.

We see the bopping.

I think it did happen to Jared Jones earlier this season, as Jim pointed out, as we were talking behind the scenes also.

this isn't technically new.

It's just something that doesn't happen often, but you have to declare if you're going to be pitching from the stretch or the wind-up.

Guy's on third.

And he did it for the previous batter.

But that's something you have to do every at-bat.

You can't just more or less say, hey, oh, I'm going to be doing this the rest of the inning or as long as that guy's there or whatever.

Like, you can't just say, I'm going to do this, and you're allowed to continue doing it each time you're in that situation.

You have to declare he did it the time before, right?

There was a video he did with Tatis.

Didn't do it that time up.

It was the right call, fortunately.

Yeah, it's mostly bad just because it means we had to stay up an extra three hours so much as the rest of the ballgame.

Seriously.

Yeah, like, I think it would have been okay if they blew the call there that one time, you know?

Like, I think if you asked the Padres, if they would have rather gotten out of there after nine innings, I think they would have taken that deal.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, again, to talk a little bit about Braxton, again, he was shoving in.

And the thing, too, is, like, he was pitching very effective.

Of course, now I forget what it was.

He was at, like, 67 pitches through six, I believe.

And then that's when, I guess we can look it up, that happened.

He ended up throwing 15 more pitches because of the balk and what happened afterwards.

So, like, he was cruising.

He was on a pace where he was probably going to be able to pitch seven for sure.

But, again, because of that balk and then what transpired after, again, he was pretty pissed about it.

He ends up going just to six.

Again, still just one run.

Like, Braxton Ashcraft pitched his ass off today.

And that one run was earned because of this weird situation that he's put into.

But, again, it was still a very efficient game for him.

And he does end up pitching 91 in total through the six.

Again, that was strike three of that balk, too.

He was there.

Everyone was walking off the field.

It was done.

And there you go.

yeah, he was excellent tonight.

Like, genuinely excellent.

He's been excellent over these last three starts or so.

I know it's been a bit of a rough go for him.

Just most innings he's ever pitched in his career.

But, no, he looked fantastic tonight.

His pitches were humming.

I thought his fastball looked particularly good.

And I don't know if, like, they even let him go a seventh inning regardless of what happens.

But you're right.

The efficiency was great.

And he could have gone seven if the bulk doesn't happen.

And you're looking at seven shutout, potentially, which would have been absolutely, would have been great.

It would have been six for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah, six for sure.

Just, I don't know.

He continues to be so impressive.

And every time, like, he could have, let him, like, maybe unfair to him, but, like, a Mitch Keller-esque slide, he keeps rebounding.

And he keeps coming back and pitching really well.

Like, he's going to be a very good pitcher for a very long time.

Neil, don't do that to us.

You just, Neil, come on, man.

You've been doing this for how long?

You can't say things like that.

You can't do that, Neil.

But, no, you're right.

There's a lot of concerns about.

I don't have enough energy for forethought about the teams I say.

Okay?

Fair.

But, no, for real.

Like, the talent's always been there.

He's been a talented pitcher.

And, it's come out in a bigger way as he's progressed through the minors and into the majors.

But it was always about, like, the health.

there was some concerns and such.

And is it a reliever?

Is he a starter?

And, by all means, he is absolutely a starter.

in every definition, he is a starter.

He can go the length.

He's so efficient.

He has all the pitches.

How quickly he moves.

And that's the one thing I want to talk about today, too.

he mixed in all the pitches.

at the end of the day, it ended up being a little more favorable on the sinker.

But, at one point, he had 25 sinkers, 25%, or maybe just 25%.

That's what it was.

It was basically 25% sinker, slider, curveball, four seam.

And he added that one splitter.

Like, it was point blank, just even.

Almost a quarter of every pitch.

28 sinkers on the day, 23 sliders, 22 curveballs, 17 four seamers, and then one splitter.

Again, he was mixing in everything.

They were swinging and missing.

But he didn't, like, total up the strikeouts today.

It was more just, like, he was just pitching.

You get a guy on, he would get the ground ball.

Again, you see that he's working the two seam today.

Like, he would just induce the ground ball, get the double play, and get out of the inning.

Like, he just knows how to pitch.

No, I think I said it before, but just for someone who hasn't been in the majors all that long, he's quite mature in terms of how he approaches the game and how he pitches and how he's able to not only strike a lot of people out, but also use all his pitches,

get a lot of strikeouts.

Like, he is a bit of a jack of all trades in that regard.

And it's really impressive from someone who's only in his first full year as a major league starter.

Because, last year he had, it was like half bullpen, half starts.

And this year he's just, you would have thought he would have been pitching for the last four years in the majors with how he approaches things.

Yeah.

Dude is like, this is just, again, I'm just using the references.

in spring training, we talked to him.

Just listening to him talk about pitching, you just want to sit here and listen.

He's just, he's so cerebral.

And it's so interesting to him to talk about pitching.

You can just tell he thinks about this night and day, you know?

like, he really knows.

And you hear him on interviews, too, like on the broadcast stuff when they're talking to him with national or local and such.

And, they're really getting to hear him talk about pitching.

It's just, it's so pleasant.

And you're right.

Like, this guy just knows his craft.

And he loves his craft.

And he goes out there and shoves and shows off.

he has a natural ability as well.

But again, just this, like you said, just to hear him talk about the craft of pitching, and everything behind it.

It's just, it's great.

Yeah.

Like, you just want to do nothing but root for this dude.

The Ashcraft of pitching, you might say?

The Ashcraft of pitching.

Yeah.

No, it's been a joy.

And in a year of not great starting pitching, he's been in one of the few, like, real bright spots with the consistency.

And I think several guys in our rotation right now could take some lessons in terms of how Ashcraft approaches, how he approaches just taking the ball every five years.

Five days.

I think there are two guys that come to mind that could really take some of what he does and take it to heart.

honestly, though, everyone can.

And that's the one thing that this group has seemed to do is, regardless of how the results have shown, they seem like a very tight group.

And they all feed off of each other.

And with that said, I'll add this here, too.

And they talked about this on the broadcast.

Like, Braxton said that one of his best conversations he ever had was actually with Luke Weaver.

the new guy.

You know?

And how he was talking about not hanging on too long to the last pitch, not thinking too much about the next one.

Just getting into your flow state of pitching.

And again, Braxton works rather quickly.

And it's just, again, just like you said, like how they can take that from him.

And he's taking even more from someone else that's just excelling at what he's already excelling at with, you know?

And yeah, again, just, hearing him talk about that.

And obviously, he's just been nails his last three starts.

again, nine innings, eight innings.

Today, he goes six.

Again, could have went longer.

It was weird.

Regardless, two earned runs in that time frame.

But today's earned run being weird.

Just been lights out.

Yeah.

And as you mentioned, it really shouldn't have left my consciousness that he threw with Super Maddox the other, like just two weeks ago.

Yeah, like just unbelievably talented and he can do it like he said, like he didn't even strike that many people out today like he usually does.

And it didn't matter.

The Padres still had no answers for him, no special talent, probably my favorite pirate to watch this year.

I got to say, just in terms of expectations and how they performed in the consistency of it all.

He's probably up there, but like allow or, but definitely my favorite pitcher this year.

He's definitely up there.

And as a comment here from Paul, right?

Work fast, change speeds, Ray Miller.

Absolutely.

And again, just throwing strikes tonight, 69% strikes.

Like he just pounds the strike zone.

He works fast, changes speed, and he throws for strikes.

Like you said, that's something that could certainly be passed down to a few other pitchers in this rotation.

Now, you have to have that ability as well.

That's also a talent.

It's not just like, hey, do this.

It's not as if others haven't been like, oh, you know what?

I never thought about that.

There's also an ability.

I can't believe I never thought about it before.

Right.

But anyways, yeah, like there's an absolute another monster of a start for Braxton Ashcraft to now.

And again, I think we're on this show.

It's crazy to think that this is, it's still very solid ERA.

It's a 3-5 non-ERA, but it's still just one of those things where it's like, man, like he just has pitched so much better than what that number shows.

He's had blokes in the middle of the season, but he's been the absolute ace of this team.

And again, his ERA was flirting around four.

I think it actually was at four.

And now, again, he's at 3.59 after these three starts that we've just mentioned.

the one basically is whips at one and he's averaging over a strikeout a game.

He is far better than that 360 ERA says.

And I'm curious to see how much more he gets the pitch this year.

Like, does he get it?

Does he get the full 32 starts that a normal pitcher gets in a year?

Is he pushing 180 innings?

I'll be curious to see how the Pirates handle it.

Me too.

I'll say this part, like as of right now, which they should, like they're not mathematically out of it.

No, they shouldn't be waving a white flag and saying they're going to shut people down.

So I do wonder at what point that transition happens.

And then once that transition happens, what they do decide to do with guys like Braxton Ashcraft, do they shut them down or do they let them keep going?

Like you said, maybe it's less innings, but do they go to the 32nd start or is like a completely shut down?

I don't know.

We'll be interesting to find out.

But as of right now, too, it's like, again, that's what we joke about.

He goes eight innings and you think, oh, my God, eight innings.

But it's like, but it's 62 pitches.

So it's like the innings are just a number, you know.

So at any rate, though, yeah, nice start by Braxton.

Let's go ahead and talk a little bit more about this team in the offense.

Again, the offense was pretty much silent.

For the most part, there was a lefty, there was a couple, a couple moments.

I'm not going to say this team was clutch by any means.

And with the runners in scoring position, they were one for 15 today.

So with that being said, it's not as if like they, were doing anything or there's a moment that came in clutch.

But they did score two runs.

And again, with a lefty on there is exactly who you pretty much expected.

It was Ruella with two hits today.

Rafael Flores with two hits today.

And as everyone involved, as had a hit, one for being the home run.

Which kicked things off.

Yeah.

yeah.

But they were at 22 scoreless innings in a row until Valdez hit that out.

Am I right?

22.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Beasley treated that.

Yep.

Real dud tonight.

I know Valdez, that was such a cool home run.

Really good stuff.

Flores got the second RBI.

Sorry, it was so long ago, I forgot.

Good stuff from the rookies, all things considered.

But, terrible day at the plate.

15 strikeouts.

Like I said, one for 15 with runners scoring position.

13 left on base.

They didn't score a single run in extras.

Until they're third inning and extra innings.

Like, painful to watch is the only way I can describe it.

The offense is painful to watch.

Yeah.

And Mangum, there was a pass ball.

Mangum gets on third.

we all know about the ghost runner, right?

You're talking about they didn't score.

And Mangum also just was gifted third base.

And they still couldn't understand his contact away.

And he ran and got in the rundown.

he got in the rundown and got Cruz a second.

At least that happened.

Like, he made the most of it for what it's worth.

But then they couldn't get Cruz in, who's obviously in the scoring position with just one out as well.

So, yeah.

There was a lot of carryover from what was happening, throughout this game into extras.

Yeah.

it's just tough because, what, Cruz goes 0 for 6.

Blau goes 0 for 5.

Jacob Gonzalez comes in and goes 0 for 3.

Combined from those three, that's like 25 strikeouts between the three.

Reynolds is 1 for 5.

Like, Horwitz is 1 for 5.

It's, you're not getting the stuff you need from your best bats.

And do they, I'm sure we'll get the Weaver, who didn't deserve to give up that run.

But, like, you got to put more than two runs on the board, even if it was technically enough with how this pitching staff performed today.

Yeah.

Well, I'll tell you what.

We want to keep this rather quick.

There's no point in talking.

But, yeah.

Before we get the Weaver, we'll transition that.

Weaver is coming into the game.

You have a two-run lead.

It's in the later innings.

This bullpen has been, we're talking about nails.

This bullpen has also been nailed since the deadline, since it's been revamped.

Let's start with, because it's been a topic of discussion of late, the substitutions.

They take Ezmerlin out.

They put in Billy Cook.

Any thoughts of that?

I don't care.

like, I know people were upset about that in the ninth inning, but, like, Valdez is going to strike out against Mason Miller.

It's going to happen.

He's a big strikeout guy.

I don't mind.

Chase the defense where you can get it.

Okay.

Yeah.

I want to say, too, like, I don't mind.

I know we joked because, again, it's the parts.

It was like, this is coming down to Billy Cook, right?

And the extras.

And, like, it basically did.

They put in Jake Mangum.

You just knew how it was going to play out, and people are going to go, wow.

But I don't have, I don't have much of an issue with that as other things that have happened, like, this past week or so.

You're up.

You put in the defensive replacement.

Again, the bullpen has been nails.

Weaver comes in.

He gives up the runs.

It does go into extras.

It happened.

It happened.

Now, like you said, like what you mentioned, too, I don't know if Ezmerlin's coming up and doing anything anyways.

Like, I don't think it changed as much.

And this is where I have a problem, too, where, people put so many losses on, like, Don Kelly.

To say Don Kelly, now they didn't lose the game, but loses his game because of that replacement.

You're also just assuming Ezmerlin wins the game there, where there's a very good chance he does nothing anyways.

But regardless, I don't have that much of a problem with today in that substitution.

Yeah.

Which, what was the one that was really egregious?

I forget.

There was one, like.

Well, we were talking about.

Oh, the Davis.

We were on that.

Flores.

When Davis gets.

Yeah, Davis.

This is much more justifiable than taking out Flores for Davis.

I agree.

But.

Yeah.

like.

And I guess the defense didn't really matter all that much because when we get down to Luke Weaver's inning, it's like.

The dinkiest ground rule double I think I've ever seen hit in a professional baseball setting.

Followed by an 88 mile an hour single up the middle, like.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was.

There was some.

Confine that with the bulk.

And there was some fate about getting us to 2 a.m.

talking about this team because, like.

The Padres were miserable on offense tonight.

That Luke Weaver inning was not a good offensive inning from the Padres, I don't think.

Like.

it was a good piece of him by Cronenworth.

I'll say this.

Like, to just take what you're getting.

Get the single.

But that.

Cronenworth was doing everything he could do.

To just wreck the bar.

Yeah.

Ground rule double was ridiculous.

So, I thought Weaver was good.

until he started walking people.

He unraveled a little bit after the single.

But, I guess, a little bit positive.

The bullpen is incredible right now.

Well, they had the two outs.

Then, couldn't get it out.

They put in Mason Montgomery.

Mason Montgomery finishes.

He gets the third out.

Comes back out.

Shuts him down.

Gets his team in the extras.

So, here's the thing.

They ensured it went into extras.

They didn't lose the ball game.

We already talked about the Pirates.

We were in extras.

The Padres, they were.

They went back-to-back innings.

They had the guy on second.

They let off back-to-back extra innings.

Popping up a butt to the first baseman.

So, like, they were doing everything they could to also lose this game.

They weren't trying to win it.

They were doing whatever they could to.

Both teams were pirating.

They were doing what they could to try to lose the game in the extras until Nick Gonzales finally got that RBI.

And the game ended.

But, also, as you mentioned, to wrap this up, like, yes.

they don't win this game if this Pirates bullpen isn't also shutting down the Padres offense to have Nick Gonzales win the game.

It was an experience, as it always is.

Now, Kirby Yates has been very good.

And then, of course, the experience.

Yohan Ramirez comes in and gives us an experience.

But he shuts them down, too.

Three strikeouts from Yohan.

yeah.

No, I was just dinking them into the dirt.

And the Padres gets them swinging at it for God knows what reason.

Now, six innings of one earned run ball is good stuff from any bullpen at any time.

It's just, it's rather unfortunate.

They had to go three innings into extras.

Yeah.

For sure.

But, hey.

Again, they did what was needed to be done.

To win the game.

They win the game.

There you have it.

So, let's complete this day of Pirates baseball.

We have some sandwiches to give out.

Yes, we do.

Everyone.

And there's, like, a hundred of you here.

I don't know why.

It's 2.30 in the morning on a Monday night.

And the Pirates are, like, they're done.

But you're here.

We appreciate you.

We love you guys.

Do you guys live on the West Coast?

Is that, like, do you all live on the West Coast?

Some of them are.

Like, I know Sean Hooper's in here.

He's, it's, like, 5 o'clock in the afternoon for him.

But we're on the East Coast.

We're tired.

We want to go to bed.

So, yeah.

Get those hashtags in the comments to make sure you have your ability to win some sandwiches.

Let's bring this up here.

Neil, tell everyone what they got to do.

Get your email sent over to NorthShore9 at gmail.com.

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That's right, baby.

You also need to like and subscribe.

Join our Discord.

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Do all the good stuff.

There it is.

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Congratulations.

You're getting two sandwiches.

Send us that email address.

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Send us that email address associated with your Primanti Brothers app.

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And for our second winner of the night, early morning, Tuesday now.

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So, give us his emails.

We'll get these sandwiches out to you guys.

And with that said, I think we're done.

Yeah.

Let's go to bed.

I was going to get my NCAA game in tonight.

That ain't happening.

No, not a shot.

We love you all.

We appreciate you all.

We'll see you in, like, four more hours for game two of this series on the West Coast.

Bye-bye.

You ready for Bucco Brew tomorrow?

Or you have to do another one?

No.

I want to go to bed.

I've been up since 7 podcasting.

I'm going to end at 2.30 podcasting.

We'll see you guys later.

Good night.

Bye.

All right.

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