Nick Pivetta rebounds from rough first inning as Phillies rally to defeat Cardinals

Nick Pivetta stood in the eye of the storm.

It was the fifth inning Tuesday night. The Phillies were facing the Cardinals in the opener of a three-game homestand at Citizens Bank Park. And it was raining — nay, pouring — as Pivetta called for a new, dry baseball in the middle of an at-bat against Dexter Fowler.

The metaphor was unavoidable. For Pivetta, this was a new, fresh opportunity after a stormy start to the season and a month in exile at triple-A Lehigh Valley. He gave up three runs, including two home runs, in the first inning. Yet here he was, on the verge of completing the fifth inning and leaving the mound with a lead.

This time, Pivetta made it through. He retired 14 of 17 batters after the second homer, including 10 in a row, then three relievers passed the baton over the next four innings to assure that Cesar Hernandez’s two-run homer in the fourth inning would hold up as the decisive blow in a 4-3 Phillies victory.

For Pivetta, it was progress.

“Nick is kind of the story of the game,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “That was a real gutsy performance in suboptimal conditions. It wasn’t perfect. There was some falling behind at times, but he really showed up when he needed to in the most important moments.”

Kapler nevertheless wouldn’t commit to Pivetta making his next start Sunday in Los Angeles against the National League-leading Dodgers. After all, the Phillies brought Pivetta back from Lehigh Valley not because he was lights-out in the minors, but rather because rookie Cole Irvin got hit hard last week in Chicago and Vince Velasquez got moved to the bullpen.

“I want to start again in five days," Pivetta said, “and I want to be here for the rest of the year.”

And does he think he will get that assignment against the Dodgers?

“Yes,” he said. “I do.”

Pivetta made his best case over his final 89 pitches. The first 17 pitches, delivered after rain delayed the game by 50 minutes at the start, resulted in a flyout, a solo homer by Paul Goldschmidt, a hit batter, and a two-run shot by Marcell Ozuna.

It was nothing new. Even before the Phillies decided to recall Pivetta to face the Cardinals, Kapler noted the right-hander’s struggles in the first innings of starts, an issue that didn’t go away in triple-A. In his first four starts of the season, Pivetta allowed four first-inning runs. He gave up six runs in the first innings of his six starts for Lehigh Valley.

“In some ways I thought the rain might’ve been good because it might’ve given him a chance to work out some kinks in the first warmup and some more in the second warmup. That didn’t prove to be the case,” Kapler said. “It’s something that we continue to dig into.”

But Pivetta insists the time back in the minors was good for other reasons. It enabled him to focus simply on his pitching rather than being consumed by the high expectations for both himself and the Phillies this season.

“I think everybody puts pressure on themselves,” Pivetta said. “I might have put a little more than I probably should have, but that’s just growing as a player and proving that you can get through those moments. I feel like I did it today.”

If it has become predictable to see Pivetta get roughed up in the first inning, the idea that he would be the catalyst for the Phillies’ comeback in the third seemed equally far-fetched. Hitless in seven at-bats this season and 7-for-91 (.077) in his career, he looked foolish by ducking out of the way of a first-pitch curveball from Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright.

A funny thing happened, though, on the way to Pivetta being an automatic out: He stroked a one-out single to center field, advanced to second on Andrew McCutchen’s single, and moved to third on a wild pitch. The stage was set for Bryce Harper, who sat on a curveball and lined a two-run double down the line in right field to cut the deficit to 3-2.

The Phillies surged ahead in the fourth inning. J.T. Realmuto lined a single on Wainwright's first pitch of the inning before Hernandez went deep to open a 4-3 advantage.

By then, Pivetta was cruising. He looked particularly strong during a stretch in the third and fourth innings when he mowed through the top of the Cardinals’ order. He struck out Fowler on a fastball, got Goldschmidt to roll over a sinker, and fanned Paul DeJong on a fastball and Ozuna on a curve.

“I think he just stayed tough,” Kapler said. “I still don’t think he had his best stuff or his best command. He was able to stay off barrels enough. He was able to fight enough in really tough conditions. Those raindrops were pretty big at times. He stayed composed.”

Progress, indeed.