Rowdy Tellez leave as Pirates decline the option on His contract for next season…
Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Rowdy Tellez’s body of work this season has been largely bereft of celebratory moments.
Stepping in to defend then-struggling closer David Bednar in early April and issuing a slight reprimand to Pirates fans for booing Bednar, in addition to Tellez’s own production shortcomings, have painted a target on his back.
The result has been a consistent chorus of boos every time he steps into the batter’s box or is announced in the nightly lineup over the PNC Park loudspeakers before home games.
But Saturday night at home, in front of 29,700 fans, Tellez managed to transform those boos into woo-hoos, as he produced most of the Pirates’ offense, including his first homer since March 31, helping lift his club to a 4-0 shutout of the Minnesota Twins.
The victory is the Pirates’ fourth shutout of the year, second straight of the Twins and third since Tuesday.
After his seventh-inning solo shot off Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson, Tellez entered his next at-bat in the eighth inning to chants of “Row-dy! Row-dy!” from the PNC Park crowd.
He did not disappoint in the moment, ripping a two-out, two-run RBI single that gave the Pirates key insurance runs and put them up 3-0.
After he came home to score on a Michael A. Taylor single, Tellez even was treated to a brief curtain call from the PNC Park crowd.
“It’s nice. It’s nice to smile. It’s nice to feel the way my teammates feel. It’s nice to be happy going out (to bat),” Tellez said postgame. “There’s a lot of things, like I said, a lot of emotions. So it’s been nice to hear that. It’s been really comforting. (There haven’t) been a lot of ups, so it’s nice to go out there and hear my name.
“I’m trying to do the best I can for everybody. Trying to be that leader, that player that needs to produce. That’s what they brought me here to do, and we’re going to get that going and keep it going.”
