ST. LOUIS– Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton staged baseballs very first significant, socially distanced umpire argument, then got his first success as a big league supervisor as the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 on Sunday.
Colin Moran and Jose Osuna homered and Mitch Keller pitched 5 solid innings for the Pirates.
Shelton came out to argue with plate umpire Jordan Baker in the 3rd inning after pitcher Derek Holland was ejected for arguing strikes and balls.
Shelton pulled a gaiter over his face as he left the dugout, and Baker pulled a face mask out of his pocket and held it to his face as Shelton argued from about 6 feet away. Baker let Shelton say his piece, and the first-year skipper was not ejected.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton argued through his mask Sunday after pitcher Derek Holland was ejected for arguing strikes and balls. AP Photo/Jeff RobersonDespite the odd scenarios of the argument, Shelton paid Baker a compliment about the dust-up.
We were trying to remain distant, which we were both aware of, “he stated. I wanted to make sure that my mask remained up and he was excellent.
” He handled it professionally. I believe it was the first time, and we were both in an unknown location, and then when I headed out there later on, we type of got a chuckle out of it.”.
Pittsburgh avoided being swept and beat the Cardinals for simply the second time in their previous 14 meetings. The Pirates made certain this was a game to commemorate, all for their new supervisor.
” I got a quite severe beer shower,” Shelton said.
Keller (1-0) faced St. Louis for the first time in his career. He offered up one run, two hits and 3 strolls while starting out 3. When Kolten Wong scored on Tommy Edmans infield single in the 3rd inning, his only blemish came.
Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson (0-1) provided up four runs, consisting of two homers, in 4 1/3 innings. Hudson lost for the first time in 4 profession starts against the Pirates, and it was his first loss versus an NL Central challenger after winning his previous 5 starts in 2019.
Pittsburgh scored three runs in the 4th. Moran homered with 2 outs, and that was followed by Phillip Evans infield single and a two-run shot to center by Osuna for a 3-1 lead.
Jacob Stallings scored on a sacrifice fly from Josh Bell to make it 4-1 in the fifth. When Bell scored from initially on a Phillip Evans double, they made it 5-1 in the 8th.
I wanted to make sure that my mask remained up and he was great.
” I got a pretty severe beer shower,” Shelton said. Keller (1-0) faced St. Louis for the very first time in his career. He provided up one run, two hits and 3 walks while striking out 3. His only acne came when Kolten Wong scored on Tommy Edmans infield single in the third inning.
