Luis Ortiz foiled by 6-run frame in Pirates' 8-3 loss to Royals

PITTSBURGH — Luis Ortiz’s last two starts of August signaled he could be in for a strong finish to a breakout campaign.

His latest two appearances, though, would indicate otherwise. Ortiz was tagged for seven runs, four of them earned, in a 8-3 loss to the Royals on Friday night at PNC Park.

The right-hander, who entered the Pirates’ rotation for good at the tail end of the first half, has been excellent this season due in large part to both a significantly improved four-seam fastball and sinker. Though only one of the Royals’ five hits came against Ortiz’s heater, such was far from the case against his sinker.

Kansas City had already pushed across four runs in the second inning when Ortiz grooved a sinker over the heart of the plate to All-Star catcher Salvador Perez, who cranked a no-doubt two-run homer that traveled an estimated 434 feet. A couple frames later, the Royals’ Kyle Isbel got a sinker down Broadway and turned it into his eighth homer of the year.

While Ortiz only made it through four innings, two of them were quite clean. His lone mistake in the first inning was walking Perez, and Ortiz struck out the side in the third, all via his slider.

All but one of Ortiz’s five strikeouts came courtesy of that breaking ball, with the lone exception being a heater that whizzed past the Royals’ American League MVP candidate in shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.

It wasn’t a perfect start by any means, though, for Ortiz, who has once again run into trouble with the long ball. Ortiz’s final two starts of August consisted of 12 scoreless innings, yet the four appearances before those featured eight home runs by the opposition. In September, Ortiz has already yielded three home runs in just 9 2/3 innings.

Should Ortiz seek to bolster his argument for a rotation spot amongst a crowded group in 2025, turning in a couple quality starts down the stretch in September could only help. To do so will require the 25-year-old to avoid making as many mistake pitches down the pipe like the ones from Friday’s loss.

On the mound

Since Ortiz only covered four innings for the Pirates, manager Derek Shelton turned to bulk reliever Joey Wentz in the fifth. The relatively new left-hander made his third appearance with the team and impressed again, making it through two scoreless innings to lower his season-long ERA to 5.22.

While Wentz was a bit of an unknown as a waiver-wire pickup and did little to inspire confidence in yielding earned runs in each of his last two appearances, the southpaw fared his best as a Pirate yet.

Kyle Nicolas relieved Wentz and continued his trying stretch when giving up a no-doubt solo shot to former Pirates infielder Adam Frazier in the eighth. Since Aug. 25, Nicolas has given up nine earned runs across his last 8 1/3 innings.

At the plate

It was an offensively-challenged evening for the Pirates, who struck out 11 times against starter Alec Marsh, which tied the right-hander’s career high in a game. They finally tagged Marsh for a run in the sixth inning, as Oneil Cruz smacked a double to the opposite field and came around on an RBI single by Joey Bart.

The only other true bright spot in the Pirates’ lineup was Bryan Reynolds, who twice came narrowly close to leaving the yard but instead had to settle for doubles each time. The All-Star outfielder added a sacrifice fly in the ninth as well. Cruz chipped in an RBI single in the same frame off former Pirates reliever Chris Stratton.

There wasn’t much else for the Pirates to be pleased with, though, when it came to exploits in the batter’s box, as they punched out 14 times as a team.