One Important Thing Left for Luis Ortiz in 2024

PITTSBURGH — Perhaps feeling some ripple effects from a second-inning error, Luis Ortiz had a forgettable start for the Pittsburgh Pirates in an 8-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals at PNC Park on Friday night.

Ortiz’s throwing error with one out snowballed into a six-run inning, erasing any hope the Pirates had had beating a likely playoff team from the American League.

“After that throwing error to first base, I tried to put myself back together again, do my best, but it did not happen,” Ortiz said through coach/interpreter Stephen Morales.

Following the error, the Royals put together three-straight hits. Yuli Gurriel singled home a run and Kyle Isbel followed with an RBI-double. With the order flipping over, Tommy Pham drove home a pair with a single to center.

The biggest blow came after Ortiz caught a liner off the bat of Bobby Witt Jr. With two outs, Royals catcher Salvador Perez connected on a two-run homer into the bullpen in center field.

It took Ortiz a whopping 47 pitches to get through the second, which mercifully came to an end when Michael Massey popped out in four ground on the first base side.

“I didn’t think (Ortiz’s) stuff was bad,” manager Derek Shelton said. “Four-pitch walk to Grossman and then Frazier hits a ball about eight feet, then we throw it away. From there, it was just the extension of at-bats. They just kept fouling balls off, fouling balls off, fouling balls off and extending at-bats, then got a couple mistakes.

“We make one play, the whole complexion of the game probably changes. That’s the challenging thing because they just extended at-bats until we made a mistake.”

In total, Ortiz allowed seven runs — four of which were earned — on five hits, two walks and five strikeouts across four innings pitched.

It was a rare hiccup for Ortiz, who had been rolling entering Friday’s start. Dating back to his first start of the season on June 26, Ortiz posted a 3.14 ERA over 71.2 innings pitched, good for seventh-best in the National League.

Ortiz was on the Pirates’ Opening Day roster but in the bullpen after Bailey Falter was named the team’s fifth starter out of spring training. Ortiz was pitching well as a reliever before getting a chance to make a couple of starts. He’s since been operating as a starting pitcher since the beginning of July.

“The reason he’s in the rotation right now is because he continued to get better and when we told him he wasn’t a starter and that he was gonna pitch in different parts of the game, he didn’t pout,” explained Shelton. “He went about his business … But not one time did he waver in his commitment of what he thought he was.”

Throughout the season, Ortiz has quietly been one of the Pirates’ most effective and reliable pitchers, no matter his role. After his subpar outing on Friday night, Ortiz is 6-6 with a respectable 3.45 ERA through a career-high 122.2 innings.

This isn’t the first time that Ortiz has struggled on the mound this season, and he’s seemingly been able to bounce back and give the Pirates quality innings when applicable.

His focus will once again be on that as he looks to end his strong season on a high note.

“It’s really important to finish the season strong,” said Ortiz. “Just going to continue to work hard and put together good outings, and hopefully God will guide me through the rest of the season.”