(Featured photo is from the Pirates’ lineup graphic on Twitter/X)
Folks, we live in a world where anything is possible.
Gabriel Landeskog jump back into playoff hockey after missing nearly three years on the ice. Katy Perry can go to freaking space. And yes, even Derek Shelton can occasionally play the same exact lineup twice in a row.
After the Pittsburgh Pirates experienced a breakout game in Southern California Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels, the Pirates’ skipper is running back the same exact lineup tonight as the Pirates look to claim the series in Angels Stadium.
Pittsburgh put up nine runs and 18 hits on Mike Trout and the Angels en route to one of their very few comfortable wins of the season.
Every Pirate batter, including pinch hitters, safely reached base Tuesday night, and all but one player (the unfortunate Enmanuel Valdez) notched at least one hit.
The Pirates scored two runs in the third inning, but Andrew McCutchen’s three-run homer in the fifth really started the barage for the Pirates.
While the offense was certainly humming for the Pirates last night, they were helped by a stellar bullpen performance. After starter Bailey Falter came out at the end of the fourth inning, the Angels were no-hit by the combination of Chase Shugart, David Bednar, Justin Lawrence, Dennis Santana, and Ryan Borucki.
Shugart earned his first major league win and the Pirates were able to get the bad taste of that Cleveland series at home out of their mouths for the time being.
But perhaps the most surprising aspect of that performance was Shelton’s decision to run the exact same lineup for a second straight game.
By me just writing this, you can probably guess that Shelton doing this is pretty rare.
I get it, he hasn’t ever had a ton of talent to work with in the dugout. However, one of the antics he has that drives many Pirates fans crazy is his constant shuffling of the lineup. Guys are moved around to different positions and given “days off” far too frequently around here.
But when was the last time that Shelton actually played the same lineup in consecutive games? I decided to do some digging and find out.
We have to go back to August of last year to find when Shelton has not shuffled the lineup or batting order from the prior game. On August 23rd, Shelton put this lineup on the field to take on the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park. Ironically, Bailey Falter also started that game for the Pirates.
The Reds knocked him around and took a commanding 5-0 lead over the Pirates with Falter on the mound. The Pirates were no-hit through four innings in a bullpen game for Cincinnati, but the flood games opened in the bottom of the fifth when Pittsburgh scored four runs.
They tacked on two more in the bottom of the sixth and held on for a 6-5 win. Dennis Santana was credited with the win and David Bednar earned the save.
The next day, Shelton ran it right back.
Just to put this lineup into context, three of the players in this August lineup are no longer in the organization, a fourth is not on that major league roster, and aside from Bart behind the dish, everyone is playing somewhat out of position.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, they did not follow up that comeback win well. On a day where the club was honoring the newest inductees of the Pirates Hall of Fame, the team on the field was lit up by the Reds, who won 10-2.
The game was never in reach. Starting pitcher Jake Woodford gave up four runs in the first inning and seven in just 3.1 innings pitched. The Pirates didn’t score after the second inning, when Rowdy Tellez sent a two-run shot into the Allegheny.
By the ninth inning, Tellez was on the mound, lobbing pitches to the plate as the team waived the white flag.
Since that day, the Pirates have played 56 straight games where at least one change was made to the lineup and order. It truly is a rare thing Shelton is doing tonight in LA.
Let’s just hope that the Pirates have better results running back the same lineup tonight than they did on that afternoon against Cincinnati, because if a blowout loss like that happens again, Shelton may never run the same lineup on back-to-back days for as long as he’s manager here.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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