‘Just Trying to Get Back on Course,’ Bailey Falter Bounces Back, Leads Pirates to Sweep
PITTSBURGH — Bailey Falter was in a much better mood than he has been of late during his postgame interview in front of his locker in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ clubhouse.
The left-hander entered Wednesday afternoon’s start against the Detroit Tigers stuck in a rough patch since the calendar flipped from May to June.
After a stellar month of May in which he finished third among Major League starters in ERA, Falter posted a 5.60 ERA in eight starts since. But Falter looked much more like he did in May in the Pirates’ 6-1 win over the Tigers on Wednesday afternoon.
“Just trying to get back on course, honestly,” Falter said on putting a stop to his slide. “I mean, all these guys in the locker room have been picking me up this past, like, a month and a half, two months coming up on. So it definitely felt good to go out there and do that for these guys in this locker room because they don’t take a pitch off from me.”
Falter retired the first 11 batters he faced before Wenceel Pérez hit a two-out single in the fourth. He didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning when Matt Vierling followed a Spencer Torkelson double with an RBI single.
In total, Falter allowed one run on four hits in seven innings. He didn’t walk a batter, matched a career-high with eight strikeouts and threw 63 of his 87 pitches for strikes.
“He attacked the zone,” manager Don Kelly said on his starter. “He’s going in there and he’s dominating the strike zone with his stuff, like we talked about before the game. The ability to pitch in, pitch up, consistently hit the strike zone and did a really nice job mixing in his off-speed stuff for strikes and for chase, too.”
Falter’s dominance in the win was due to execution, largely with the fastball, a pitch he threw nearly half the time. Of the 25 batters he faced, only twice did he find himself in a three-ball count.
“The punches are gonna come, so had a really good heater today,” said Falter. “Shied away from the changeup as much as possible and then would just sprinkle in some offspeed to get you off the heater.”
Falter’s efforts capped off an impressive sweep against the Tigers, who entered the series with the best record in baseball. Between the three games, Pittsburgh outscored Detroit 17-6.
The offense clicked over the final two games of the series, but it was the starting pitching that carried the Pirates, as it has done for much of the season.
Paul Skenes threw six-shutout innings on Monday night. Mitch Keller followed with his 15th quality start of the season on Tuesday, before Falter dazzled in the finale. All three starters were credited with a win.
“I just try to feed off the other starters as much as possible,” Falter explained. “It’s nice to get in a group with these guys. They’ve been taking care of me and I’ve been trying my best to take care of them.”
It was a commendable effort from the Pirates against the Tigers considering they were embarrassingly swept in three games over the weekend against the Chicago White Sox.
While the Tigers sit atop the American League Central by a comfortable margin, the White Sox are in the cellar and have the worst record in the AL.
“It’s baseball, you know, we play 162 games, you’re not always going to feel the best,” Falter said. “I always go out there and you know trying to get stuff that you want to come up with, but, guys are loose in here, we’re having fun. When these guys come in, they don’t take a day off. Like we’re out here earlier, we’re grinding. I’m just very proud for myself and for all these guys here.”
After a day off on Thursday, the Pirates will wrap up their nine-game homestand with three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks beginning Friday night.
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