Defiant A.J. predicts he’ll bounce back

by • Coverage •

JOSH
CINCINNATI — It’s been only 16 days since the All-Star Game here at Great American Ball Park, but it must feel like an eternity for A.J. Burnett, who has looked every bit a 38-year-old pitcher in recent starts and again was shelled in a 15-5 loss to the Reds Thursday night.

Entering 2015, Burnett had never, in 16 seasons of Major League Baseball, permitted the opposition to run up double-digit hits against him in consecutive games. He has dealt with control issues throughout his career, but the act of producing hits against him has always been difficult.

Then came the All-Star break. And maybe Father Time.

And now this, a 4 1/3-inning line of eight runs, 10 hits and a three-run Marlon Byrd blast.

Burnett has made three starts since the break, against the Royals, Nationals and Reds, and he’s allowed 11, 11 and 10 hits, respectively. The man who had never allowed a team to whack 10 hits or more against him in consecutive starts has now let it happen three straight times.

And in this game, he began by throwing his fastball in the 88-89 mph range, well below the norm, before suddenly ratcheting up to 93-94 mph in his fifth and final inning.

What was that all about?

Clint Hurdle clearly seemed concerned that Burnett was thrown off by inactivity during the break. He started July 11, the night of Andrew McCutchen’s walkoff home run against the Cardinals. He didn’t pitch again until July 20 in Kansas City. So, wanting to get Burnett into more of a routine, Hurdle altered his rotation to make sure Burnett had only four off days before this start.

It didn’t work.

“I don’t know,” Burnett replied when asked if the time off disrupted him. “Maybe. I don’t look into that. We threw enough bullpens. I’m just not executing like I was.”

Burnett and Hurdle both assessed that, by late in this outing, the pitcher was looking more comfortable. His radar gun readings were their highest of the season, in fact, in that final inning. His curveball had its bite back.

Still, Burnett was down in the dumps about this outing. His command was never there.

“Maybe I got a hair (better),” he said. “But it was too late by then. I need to get that from the get-go next time.”

If the Pirates are to chase down the Cardinals, the first-half Burnett almost certainly must resurface.

“I don’t think it’s a rough patch,” he said. “I just had a bad day. I’ve got work to do. I don’t think it was a rough patch. I’ve got to get back on track, help this team win.”

Then, a little bit of that old Burnett defiance surfaced.

“Next time I need to be better,” he said. “And I will be.”

• Hurdle’s bullpen was already overworked when the eighth rolled around, which prompted him to use Jaff Decker. On the mound.

And it went pretty well. Decker permitted two hits but emerged without a run.

“Last time I pitched,” Decker told me, “was the state championship game in my senior year of high school in 2008.”

He admitted to enjoying the experience.

“You’re out there against Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto, guys like that,” he said. “Yeah, no doubt that was fun. I’m glad I got the chance to do it.”

Decker hit 82 mph a handful of times.

The Pirates, of course, hope they don’t need to use him in such a role again.

“But it was pretty cool to be out there,” he said with a smile.

The last time the Pirates used a position player to pitch was last season, when Travis Snider worked an inning in a loss.

• The Reds were the beneficiary of a friendly ruling by home plate umpire Joe West in the fourth. Pedro Alvarez fielded a bunt by Billy Hamilton and moved in the direction of Cincinnati’s speedster. Hamilton ran well out of the baseline to avoid Alvarez, who threw to first instead of attempting to tag him.

West gave Hurdle an interesting explanation.

“Joe told me that if Alvarez would have made an attempt to tag him he would have called him out,” Hurdle said. “I told him that the guy exited stage right. Joe and I didn’t see it quite the same way. That’s a hard play for a first baseman. That’s a dynamic runner. That play didn’t work for us. The call was the call. A lot of things happened after that.”

It was yet another interesting night for Alvarez.

He committed his 16th error, the most of any first baseman in Major League Baseball this season, this on another play in the fifth. Hurdle explained that the Pirates had their infield drawn up with one out and runners at the corners, and the singular collective thought was to throw home. Hamilton was at the plate, and it’s nearly impossible to double him up.

So, Alvarez threw to second in hopes of a double play. And sailed the throw into left field.

“We talked about it,” Hurdle said.

On the bright side, Alvarez hit a home run off a left-handed pitcher, rookie David Holmberg making his season debut, for the first time since April.

• The Pirates took advantage of the blowout by getting some players rest. Jung Ho Kang and Francisco Cervelli were removed. Cervelli has been banged up most of the season, and the Pirates are quite concerned about Kang, who has never played a 162-game season.

Hurdle said he would have liked to have rested Aramis Ramirez and McCutchen, too, but “I ran out of players.”

• Gregory Polanco played the whole game, as well, one day after being removed because of knee soreness in Minnesota. He beat out a bunt single on the game’s first pitch and wound up 2 for 4 with a walk.

• It’s hard to say what’s a break and what isn’t for these Pirates on the road against Central Division opponents, but at 12:49 a.m., about two hours after this game, the Reds traded Mike Leake, their scheduled Sunday starter in this series, to the Giants for infielder Adam Duvall and pitcher Keury Mella. Cincinnati almost surely will have to dip into the minors again for a replacement.