The Pittsburgh Pirates will be trying to win three games in a row after a rough month and the Cincinnati Reds will be looking to avoid the start of a skid when the teams play the middle game of a series Saturday at PNC Park.
Pittsburgh (34-35) won the series opener 3-2 A'Shawn Robinson Jersey , posting back-to-back wins for the first time since winning three straight May 15-17 to reach a season-best nine games above .500.
In the interim before Friday’s win, the Pirates were 6-18 and entered the weekend as close to the last-place Reds (eight games) as they were to first-place Milwaukee in the National League Central.
“It’s a long season. There’s going to be times where stuff like that happens,” Pittsburgh third baseman Colin Moran said of the poor stretch. “It’s more important that we bounce back like we did.”
Cincinnati (23-44) had won three in a row before Friday.
Pirates right-hander Ivan Nova (3-5, 4.68 ERA) is scheduled to face Reds right-hander Luis Castillo (4-7, 5.79) on Saturday.
Nova on Sunday returned from the disabled list (sprained right ring finger) without having made any rehab starts. No matter. He struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings, giving up one run and four hits in a 7-1 win over the Cubs in Chicago.
It showed the Pirates that the veteran can still be highly effective. It showed Nova that it is better to be forthcoming about nagging injuries and be willing to step away and heal.
“Just the way that the ball was coming out of my hand, I could tell the difference right away,” Nova said. “To be able to pitch a game like (that) … I think that’s kind of a lesson for you. Don’t force it.”
He had not had any sort of organized outing since his last appearance before May 24 when he went on the DL.
“He was ready to pitch,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “At the end of the day, he showed you he was ready to pitch.”
Nova also impressed the opposition.
“He was hitting the corners all day, keeping the ball down,” Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo told MLB.com. “It’s tough to do anything when he’s on like that.”
Nova is 3-7 with a 4.67 ERA in 10 career starts against Cincinnati.
Castillo’s last start was much more mixed than Nova’s.
In a 6-4 loss to St. Louis, Castillo had a career-high 10 strikeouts but also a career-high two homers allowed as Jose Martinez and Marcell Ozuna smacked back-to-back dingers in the first inning after Castillo struck out the first two hitters on six pitches. He also gave up a first-pitch, bases-loaded triple to Yadier Molina in the third.
“You just have to be strong mentally, more than physically,” Castillo said through an interpreter.
He gave up five runs and four hits in six innings that game. Despite the rocky start and the loss Nevin Lawson Jersey , Castillo, 25, managed an in-game turnaround, allowing just one batter to reach base in his final three innings.
“You saw the talent of Castillo,” Cincinnati manager Jim Riggleman said. “The last three innings that he threw were outstanding, and it’s exciting to know that this guy has got a chance to be around here for a very long time. He’s just going to get better and better once he gets past these growing pains.”
Castillo is 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA in four career starts against Pittsburgh, with 22 strikeouts in 22 innings.
There’s always energy in the bench press room at the NFL scouting combine when players grip the crossbar and begin pumping the 225 pounds of free weights as everybody nearby counts the repetitions.But never like this.
Even Shaquem Griffin, the one-handed do-it-all defender from Central Florida and a late invitee to the combine, didn’t expect to do what he did Saturday with his prosthetic left hand .
His personal max was 11 reps, but he had a much more modest benchmark in mind here.
”My goal was six,” Griffin acknowledged.
Griffin clipped his prosthetic hand onto the bar, then leaned back.
This wasn’t his brother spotting him – the one who he was sure used to surreptitiously help him – but this new spotter was hyping him up and the crowd joined in as did his fellow linebacker prospects.
”Everybody in the stands was hyping me up. I got the guys I’m here with hyping me up. It felt amazing,” Griffin said. ”I was ready to go. I was ready to attack it.”
His chest heaved.
And the counting began.
One, two, three.
”I said, this thing feels like 135. Let’s go!” Griffin recounted. ”And I just started cranking them out.”
Four Taylor Decker Jersey , five, six.
That was easy.
Seven, eight, nine.
The crowd was hollering by now.
Ten, 11 – this was his personal best.
Twelve.
A new high.
Thirteen … 14 … 15 … 16.
The crowd was roaring is disbelief.
Seventeen.
Can this really be happening?
Eighteen!
That’s one more than his twin brother, Shaquille, managed at last year’s combine before the Seattle Seahawks selected the speedy cornerback in the third round of the NFL draft.
Nineteen!
One more … 20!
”I got chill bumps watching him do 20 reps,” said NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock. ”I literally choked up a little bit watching him do that and I can’t wait to watch him tomorrow.”
On Sunday, Griffin will run the 40-yard dash, do some quickness drills and some on-field testing at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Griffin was 4 years old when doctors amputated his left hand a day after his mother found him in the kitchen attempting to cut off his jelly-like fingers, which were in scorching pain whenever he touched anything, the result of amniotic band syndrome, a congenital birth defect.
Despite having just one hand, he kept up with his twin brother on and off the field.
As dozens of reporters and photographers gathered around him Saturday, Griffin said, ”I thought I was going to walk over here and it was going to be like three people.”
Not after becoming the best feel-good story of the combine so far – and by far.
”It was amazing Golden Tate III Jersey , hearing the crowd and having the juices flowing, I mean I felt it,” Griffin said. ”I didn’t know I had it in me.”
Griffin said he’s mind-set is he always has to do more than those around him to impress coaches.
”I always hold myself to a higher standard than a lot of people just because if we’re running drills, if I drop a ball, they’re going to like, `Well, he dropped the ball because he has one hand.’ If anybody else drops a ball, they’re going to be like, `Well, maybe it was a bad ball,”’ Griffin said.
As a freshman, he couldn’t even lift the 45-pound bar, but then he was fitted with the pros ethic and his mom cried when he did his first pull-up.
”It’s amazing to see how far I’ve come from not being able to bench the bar to throwing up 20 reps of 225 and being able to compete with the best here,” said Griffin, the 2017 American Athletic Conference defensive player of the year.
Griffin, who played D-line Teez Tabor Jersey , linebacker and safety at the Senior Bowl, said he’s going to try to join the defensive back drills Sunday after doing his work with the linebackers.
”I feel like I could just start curling 225 right now and I’m pretty sure come tomorrow, it’s going to be adrenalin just going crazy. I’m excited about tomorrow. If I feel this good doing the bench press, I can’t wait to see how I am tomorrow.”
Griffin said he hopes he’s an inspiration to kids everywhere.
”If I can inspire one, and they can inspire another and (soon we’ll) inspire a thousand,” Griffin said.
As evidenced by the way they were cheering him on in the bench press, he’s inspiring his fellow draft prospects at the combine.
”That’s kind of cool when you have guys at that top level, the best of the best, and they come and talk to you about you motivating them and inspiring them,” Griffin said. ”I feel really good hearing that from them. It motivates me to do more and keep pushing when you’ve got guys all over the place, the top in the country, and they’re proud of me.
”That was an amazing feeling, and it makes you enjoy it that much more.”
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