Hurts goes 5.0 hitless:
DJ Hurts pitched five innings Saturday afternoon at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, walking three batters but allowing no hits or runs, but the 23-year-old left-hander threw 87 pitches, 53 of which were strikes, and his nascent no-hitter attempt was over there.
He said he “completely understands” manager Davey Martinez’s decision to end his start at that point, despite him pitching five solid innings.
He has been treated with caution throughout his rookie season, and the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader was no different.
“I think last year was the most I’ve ever been. [Arizona] In the fall league, I pitched about 110 innings, and going into this game, I think I was at 109-110 innings. [ed. note – “109 2/3.”]”…I totally understand that and I’m all for it. It’s just going to take time until they let me go. We’ll go from there.”
He said he hopes he’ll get the opportunity to continue again someday.
“That day will come,” Hertz said. “There’s no need to rush it.”
On this day, he struck out five batters, totaling 12 strikeouts and 12 strikeouts, of which 7 were four-seam pitches (57% of the time), 26% were changeups, 14% were sliders, and 2% were curveballs.
“The changeup was probably my best pitch of the year. I was throwing it a lot to get strikes and I didn’t throw it very well,” Hurts said of his pitch choice against the Buccaneers. “If it wasn’t, it was a competitive mistake. The fastball was just a regular fastball with a little bit more speed added to it. It was good. As long as I could cut down the two-out walks, that was good.”
Hurts said the two pitches, if sharp, can complement each other and give hitters trouble.
“I think those two things work together, because, you know, when my fastball’s on, it has really good flight, and hitters get fooled by that. And that’s when you know they’re being fooled. That’s when you throw your changeup. And if you can control it and throw it for strikes, below the zone but on the plate, then you know how to mess with them and have a really good day.”
As the manager and pitching coach preach daily, and as pitching strategist Sean Doolittle explained in a spot on MLB Network this week, attacking the zone has been the key to Hertz’s success in a strong second half of the season.
“It’s all done in the zone, so staying in the zone is a big key,” he explained.
“When you get in the zone, good things happen.”
Robert Garcia, Jacob Burns, Derek Law and Kyle Finnegan all earned the win in the first of two games against the Pirates, while Jose A. Ferrer and Tanner Rainey each scored two goals for the club. 2⁄3 In the nightcap innings, Law, Burns and Garcia again relieved, and after the Nationals scored four runs in the top of the ninth to take an 8-6 lead, Finnegan returned to the mound and again got a chance for the save.
When asked by reporters after his 35th save if he wanted to pitch in a second game, Finnegan replied, “Absolutely.”
“Finnegan actually stressed, ‘If there’s an opportunity to close the game out, I want to be there,'” manager Davey Martinez said after the team’s second win of the day.
“It was tough,” he said of the decision to bring back four relief pitchers in the second game.
Philip G. Pavely – Imag Images
“They won’t play tomorrow, but they’ve accepted their role and told me before the game they’ll be available,” he said.
“They came together and did a good job. We pitched well. They kept us in the game.”
After a comeback victory in the second game, manager Martinez reiterated his team’s determination to never give up.
“They don’t feel like they’re out of the game. They feel like if they keep working hard, good things will happen. They worked hard today. They tried hard today,” he said.
“We won the first game and played similarly in the second game, so hopefully we can carry that on tomorrow.”
