Pittsburgh Review

ARLINGTON -- Pirates starter Luis Ortiz threw 92 pitches Monday night, and nearly all of them were adequate. Good enough to win plenty of ballgames in the big leagues, sufficient to reinforce that the 25-year-old right-hander is a promising part of the Pirates’ future.

Then there were the two pitches he threw to Corey Seager in a 4-3 loss to the Rangers. Those offspeed pitches landed in the center square of the strike zone. They traveled a combined 849 feet and accounted for all the runs Ortiz surrendered in his six innings of work.

“Seager beat us today,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The two home runs, we didn’t execute pitches. I thought other than that, Luis threw the ball really well.”

Indeed, those two pitches overshadowed an otherwise decent outing in which Ortiz allowed five hits, walked one, and struck out seven in the opener of a three-game series at Globe Life Field.

Even though the Bucs outhit the Rangers 7-5, they left seven men on base and were left with the impression that none of that mattered much in light of those two pitches.

Seager hit his 27th and 28th homers of the season.

“He’s one of the best players in the game and we made two flat, middle-middle breaking balls to him, and you cannot do that,” Shelton said. “I think we saw what happens when you do that. ... Especially with how he’s swinging the bat, you just can’t miss in the middle of the plate. He’s going to do damage if that is the case and he did damage tonight.”

Ortiz got to a full count with Seager in the first inning. Ortiz threw an 89.5-mph cutter down the pipe, and Seager hammered it to right to put the Rangers ahead 1-0.

The second homer was more devastating: an 84.5-mph slider that also caught the middle of the zone. Seager hit a three-run dart that Pittsburgh couldn’t fully answer, although they came close when Jared Triolo hit a three-run homer.

Ortiz had faced Seager three times before, striking him out twice and allowing a sacrifice fly on May 22 last year in Pittsburgh.

“My plan against him and everybody is just attack,” Ortiz said. “Attack him from beginning to end. He took me deep into count [on first homer], and at end I just tried make pitch; I left it down middle.”

After meetings four and five, Pirates decided intentionally walk Seager when he came up face Ortiz again fifth inning. Ortiz had struck out side fourth but yielded two-out double Marcus Semien bringing up Seager who did not get swing bat against Ortiz again.

Pirates have lost 12 past 14 games including Monday’s six being one-run defeats.

“Our effort’s been good -- I think that's one thing no one can question; our effort’s been good throughout entire year,” Shelton said.

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