Pirates make Kelly a winner in debut as manager

PITTSBURGH — Bailey Falter allowed just two hits over six innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates made manager Don Kelly a winner in his debut, holding off the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Friday night.

Kelly, a Pittsburgh-area native promoted from bench coach to manager on Thursday after the club fired Derek Shelton, received a warm ovation when introduced before the game, then sat back and watched the Pirates put together a crisp nine innings of work that has been elusive during their miserable start.

There had been butterflies as Kelly made the drive to PNC Park earlier in the day ahead of the start of Pittsburgh’s weekend series.

Those jitters will soon fade away as the 45-year-old Kelly tries to coax more out of an underperforming roster that hasn’t played like the group most in the organization felt was on the cusp of contending when the season began six weeks ago.

“When we look at these things, yes the record isn’t where any of us hope it would be right now,” Kelly said Friday. “But there’s a lot of opportunity for growth, there’s a lot of opportunity to get better.”

The Pirates’ win Friday ended a seven-game losing streak that had them already 10 games out of a playoff spot thanks largely to an offense that ranks among the worst in the majors in every important category.

It’s one of the reasons why Shelton’s dismissal wasn’t surprising, not even to a player who hasn’t even been in the majors a full calendar year.

“At the end of the day, we’re 12-26,” reigning National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes said. “Someone’s got to be held accountable. And unfortunately, right now, it’s him. That’s just kind of how it goes. But I don’t know that it fixes the root of the issue, which is we need to play better.”

Enter Kelly, who played collegiately at Point Park University, a small liberal arts school a few blocks across the Allegheny River from PNC Park. A stint in a college summer league between his sophomore and junior years convinced the Detroit Tigers to select Kelly in the eighth round of the 2001 draft. He spent nine seasons bouncing around from team to team — including the Pirates — as a 6-foot-4 version of duct tape: willing to patch a hole wherever needed.

Kelly retired after the 2016 season and spent some time as a scout before going into coaching full time with Houston in 2018. By the end of 2019, he was back home as the bench coach on Shelton’s staff.

Kelly isn’t sure what kind of impact he can have over the final 120ish games of the season. Yet he has no plans to change who he is or how he goes about communicating with players now forced to see him in a different light.

“When the players know you care about them and they know that at the bottom line you care about the team, you care about winning, that’s what it all ties back too,” Kelly said.

During his first full day in his new gig, Kelly challenged the Pirates to try to find the kind of joy in playing that has been elusive during a miserable spring.

Asked how much progress could be expected, the man who still walks across a darkened PNC Park after games and marvels at the city skyline offered an honest response.

“I guess time will tell,” he said. “I don’t exactly know.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.