Jose Hernandez The Unlikely Hero In Pirates’ Opening Day Win

Pirates reliever Jose Hernandez could have never expected what transpired for him on Opening Day.

Mostly because he wouldn’t be on the team.

The Pirates’ bullpen, thought to be the best strength of this baseball team, lost several arms before the regular season even began. Dauri Moreta is out for the year, and Colin Holderman and Carmen Mlodzinski opened the season on the 10-day Injured List.

With gaps in the lineup (at least for the opening gams), spots were open to be had for competing relievers in spring training.

Hernandez came into the competition with a bit of an advantage. A Rule 5 pick by the Pirates last year from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hernandez pitched 50.2 innings out of the bullpen for Pittsburgh. He recorded a subpar 4.97 ERA, but did notch 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings.

He also kept playing even during Major League Baseball’s offseason, appearing in 10 games for the Tigres del Licey in the Dominican Winter League. There, he recorded a 3.00 ERA in 6.0 innings.

Despite pitching a 1.50 ERA in 6.0 innings pitched, during spring training and striking out 9 in the process, the Pirates opted to send him to Triple-A Indianapolis to start the year.

However, he has his fellow countrymen Roansy Contreras to thank for a sudden call back to the bigs.

Contreras, who is starting the year in the bullpen, was placed on the league’s paternity leave test by the Pirates. In his place, the Pirates called up Hernandez, and little did he know, he would have a chance to save the game on opening day.

The Pirates’ opening game in Miami was wild. After falling behind 5-2, the Pirates scored two in the seventh inning and another in the eighth to tie the game.

Mitch Keller had pitched 5.2 innings, with Josh Fleming finishing off the sixth. Hunter Stratton took the seventh and Ryan Borucki nailed the eighth.

Without David Bednar available to them, the Pirates put out Aroldis Chapman in the ninth to try and send the game into extras. He did just that, and as the Pirates and Marlins traded scoreless innings, Pittsburgh was digging further down into their bullpen depth.

Luis Ortiz led the way for the Pirates in the tenth and eleventh innings. He managed the game phenomenally and, with the assist of some great defensive work by Pittsburgh’s infield, pitched two scoreless innings.

Then, in the top of the twelfth, the Pirates’ bats finally broke through. A Jared Triolo single brought Ke’Bryan Hayes home and gave the Pirates a 6-5 lead.

Then, it was Hernandez who was called upon to finish the game. Hernandez forced Luis Arráez and former Pirate Josh Bell to ground out, which halted the extra innings runner at third base.

With two outs, Miami’s Bryan De La Cruz hit a deep flyball that got scarily close to the wall, but it wound up in the glove of Bryan Reynolds to give the Pirates an Opening Day win.

Hernandez’s reaction says it all: