ST. LOUIS — He walked the first batter of his major league career, but didn’t let that allow his debut to spiral out of control. Tyler Glasnow instead showed the promise and potential that has made him the top-ranked prospect in the Pirates organization.
The 22-year-old right-hander worked around a leadoff walk in the first inning and nearly got around a leadoff triple in the fourth inning. Glasnow ran into some trouble in the sixth inning, before being removed from the game. The much-anticipated final line for Glasnow’s major league debut: 5.1 innings, three hits, four earned runs, two walks, five strikeouts. He threw 54 of his 87 pitches for a strike.
That line didn’t fully reflect the outing, as both of the batters that reached in the sixth inning came around to score on Stephen Piscotty’s three-run home run off reliever Arquimedes Caminero. That was more than enough offense for the Cardinals in a 5-1 win.
Things got off to a rough start for Glasnow to start the game. St. Louis leadoff hitter Greg Garcia started off with a walk and eventually advanced to third base with two outs. But Glasnow induced a hard groundout to third baseman Jung Ho Kang to end that inning.
“First inning has to be the toughest inning for anybody and he pushed through that,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “In the second inning I thought he found his form and rhythm, and his delivery was solid.”
Glasnow retired nine consecutive batters after the leadoff walk. But he really found his groove in the third inning, retiring the side on 13 pitches and getting ahead of each hitter. Kolten Wong lined out to Andrew McCutchen in center, while Wainwright struck out looking at a curveball. Garcia, who drew the leadoff walk in the first inning, fouled off the first two pitches before eventually grounding out to first.
Settling down after that first inning walk may have been a matter of getting past nervous energy, but Glasnow said he felt good with regards to that.
“It was better than I thought,” Glasnow said. “I was more excited than nervous. Just looking back, it was a fun time.”
Glasnow’s velocity sat in the 94 MPH range and reached 96 MPH several times. But his curveball didn’t have “as much bite” as it normally would, he said. That may have been due to trying to limit the number of walks he allowed.
“I didn’t think my stuff had as much bite to it, but it was nice going out and being able to control it,” Glasnow said.
But as the game went on, Glasnow gained more confidence and felt better. He allowed a leadoff triple in the fourth inning to Aledmys Diaz, but nearly got out of that jam.
On an 0-2 pitch, Glasnow threw a curve that Diaz hit onto the top of the bullpen fence in right field. But the ball bounced back in play and Diaz was held to a triple.
Matt Holliday grounded out for the first out and Glasnow struck out Piscotty on an 80 MPH curveball. But Glasnow threw a wild pitch to the next batter — Matt Adams — allowing the game’s first run to score. He shook of the mistake and got Adams to fly out on the next pitch.
Glasnow has shown the ability to work around early trouble this season. In his 17 starts with Indianapolis, he allowed eight leadoff walks, but only two of those scored. He allowed 12 leadoff hits and six of those came around to score. That does not include a leadoff home run in one game.
“He showed the ability to go out and make pitches, and get after people,” Hurdle said. “He stayed aggressive and remained poised throughout the game. I thought it was a very, very solid major league debut.”
Pittsburgh catcher Eric Fryer has never worked with Glasnow prior to Thursday’s game. He sensed some early jitters, but felt Glasnow quickly settled into a good rhythm.
“You could tell he was feeling good,” Fryer said. “The ball was coming out live. His arm was loose and he was letting it eat. … The breaking ball, early on, I think he was yanking it. Then he really found that and it was helping him get back into counts. He was able to control it and put it in the strike zone when he needed to.”
Randal Grichuk took the first pitch — a 79 MPH curveball — deep 441 feet for a home run with one out in the fifth inning. But Glasnow responded with two quick outs to end the inning.
Glasnow was facing the top of the St. Louis order for the third time in the sixth inning. Garcia led that inning off with a double to the left-centerfield gap. After a sacrifice bunt recorded one out, Glasnow walked Holliday on four pitches. And that ended his day.
“Today he commanded the zone, made his pitches, and didn’t let anything get out of hand,” Hurdle said.
