Perrotto: Odd, Dreary Night at PNC Park Contains Small Silver Lining

PITTSBURGH – When a rain delay lasts longer than it takes to play the game, that usually means it was a miserable night at the ballpark.

Indeed it was Tuesday evening and just a tad of Wednesday morning at PNC Park, especially for Pittsburgh Pirates fans.

The Pirates lost to the San Diego Padres 6-0 in a game that was delayed by rain for 2:40 in the middle of the second inning. The game finished in 2:37 minutes but the last out didn’t come until just after midnight when Ke’Bryan Hayes struck out.

The entire night was strange.

It was hard to understand why the game started with thunderstorms in the area. The teams played an inning and a half before the rain forced a pause in play at 7:01 p.m., 17 minutes after the first pitch.

Perhaps it was some gamesmanship by the Pirates to force Padres manager Mike Shildt to remove ace pitcher Dylan Cease after one inning. If it was a sinister attempt, it backfired because five Padres relievers combined for eight scoreless innings.

The rain didn’t last very long and public address announcer Guy Junker informed the crowd of 17,815 that the game would begin at approximately 8:15 p.m. Well, quarter after eight came and the field was not deemed playable.

The entire outfield warning track had large puddles, and it took the grounds crew seemingly forever to clear the water off the field. It was baffling to the fans because, most of the time, just three members worked on the warning track while the remainder of the crew watched from the entrance to the Pirates’ dugout on the third base side.

The Pirates did not inform the fans about why the delay was taking so long until finally announcing that Major League Baseball had to give the OK that the field was safe.

MLB gave its permission a few moments later and the game resumed at 9:40 p.m.

So, what happened?

“Tonight’s intense rain caused a flash flood effect on the warning track resulting in the drainage system to be overrun by dirt flowing off the warning track,” Pirates senior vice president of communications Brian Warecki said in a statement. “PNC Park crews worked diligently to clear the drains and divert the water to the best of their abilities.

“During that process, there were active conversations with all involved to ensure the playing surface was safe to continue to play. Once all parties agreed, the game was resumed.”

Making matters worse for the fans, the Pirates didn’t seem like they wanted to play once the game resumed. They sleepwalked through the last 7.5 innings and were shut out on four hits.

The Pirates did mount one rally, loading the bases with two outs in the seventh inning while trailing 4-0. However, Padres manager Mike Shildt made an unorthodox move that worked perfectly.

Shildt brought in left-hander Tanner Scott to face the right-handed hitter Triolo. The move ensured the Pirates would not use lefty-swinging Oneil Cruz as a pinch-hitter. It wasn’t revealed until after the game that Pirates manager Derek Shelton revealed Cruz was unavailable due to an illness.

Scott struck out Triolo, whose batting average fell to .199.

Almost lost in the rain delay confusion was that the Pirates fell to 1-3 on this homestand against two teams they are chasing in the National League wild-card standings – the Arizona Diamondbacks and Padres.

The Pirates have fallen back to .500 with a 56-56 record and are four games behind in the chase for the third and final NL wild card. Two more losses to the Padres in this three-game series and the pennant race for the Pirates might be over by late Thursday afternoon.

The one bright spot on the long and dreary evening was the Pirates announcing they would issue two free tickets for any account scanned into the game. The comps can be used for any Monday-Thursday game during the remainder of the season.

It was a nice gesture by the Pirates and the only thing good about this night from the fans’ perspective.