The question surrounding Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Trevor Williams entering 2019 was whether his outstanding second half of 2018 was sustainable.
In his first start of the season, Williams (1-0, 0.00 ERA) looked like he may be ready to top that second-half performance. With Williams’ second start scheduled for Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds and right-hander Tanner Roark (0-0, 6.23 ERA), the Pirates are hoping dominant starts are indeed his new norm.
It’s a small sample size, of course, but Williams not only held the Reds to three hits in six scoreless innings with six strikeouts and a walk on 80 pitches, but he also drove in two runs Sunday in a 5-0 win over Cincinnati with an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk.
“It was incredible,” said fellow Pirates starter Joe Musgrove, who pitched in relief that day because a washout a day earlier altered the rotation. “We didn’t expect anything less from him. We talk about the season he had last year. You can’t really go out there and expect yourself to do the same thing. I think he has higher expectations.”
Williams last season was 7-3 with a 1.38 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP after the All-Star break. He has since expanded his repertoire to include more curveballs, but his fastball is still his go-to pitch.
“He has a lot of confidence in his fastball, and we’ve got confidence in him throwing his fastball. There’s no reason not to,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle recently told the media. “When he can get it spotted up where he wants it to go, it makes it a different dynamic for the other pitches to play.”
Because of a rainout, that game Sunday was just Pittsburgh’s second of the season. Williams shrugged off his dominating performance, saying he simply rode the coattails of team Opening Day starter Jameson Taillon.
“We just stuck with the game plan,” Williams said. “I watched what (Taillon) did, and we carried that over.”
What Williams did in his first start would seem to be a good blueprint for his outing Saturday, especially coming against the Reds again. He is 4-1 with a 3.20 ERA in nine career games, six of them starts, against Cincinnati. And all of his three RBIs have come against the Reds.
Williams’ win Sunday came in the Pirates’ only win in their first four games. They have since won two straight, the first two games of the four-game home series against the Reds, both by scores of 2-0.
Friday, Musgrove picked up the win in a pitchers’ duel with Cincinnati’s Sonny Gray.
It might not bode well for Roark in terms of offensive support that Pittsburgh has shut out the Reds for 28 consecutive innings.
Roark’s first start of the season — and first with Cincinnati after being acquired from Washington in December — didn’t go nearly as well as did Williams’.
Monday, Roark gave up three runs, three hits and three walks in the first inning of a 4-3 loss to Milwaukee. He exited after 4 1/3 innings of game that wasn’t decided until the ninth.
“Just all over the place,” Roark told reporters after the game. “Obviously not throwing strikes, letting the hitters feel comfortable up there. I had to throw fastballs.
“You are going to have blips like that in the first inning where it’s three, four runs … who knows? You can’t just throw in the towel. You have to keep going and not give up. Give your team a chance to win.”
In his career against the Pirates, Roark is 3-1 with a 4.70 ERA and five home runs surrendered in four starts.