This player’s impact can’t be ignored after Carmen Mlodzinski’s strong start for Pirates

If you watched the Pittsburgh Pirates' extra-innings victory over the New York Mets on Sunday and came away focused only on Carmen Mlodzinski’s career-high eight strikeouts, you missed the bigger story unfolding in real time.

This wasn’t just a case of a pitcher “having his stuff.” This was a case of a battery working in sync, making adjustments on the fly, and trusting feel over pregame script. And that matters, especially for a Pirates team still trying to establish an identity.

Early on, Mlodzinski showed he had swing-and-miss capability, striking out Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Bo Bichette in the first inning alone — each on a different pitch. That alone would’ve been encouraging. But what happened next is what makes this performance stand out.

The Mets adjusted. They started sitting on the splitter — the very pitch Mlodzinski spent the spring refining as a potential out pitch, a “fresh start” weapon. That could’ve easily turned into a stubborn game of forcing it anyway.

Instead, Henry Davis stepped in and redirected the plan.

Fastballs, he said. A lot of them.

Out of Mlodzinski’s 85 pitches, 33 were four-seamers — and five of his eight strikeouts ended with one. The adjustment wasn’t just reactive, it was assertive. They didn’t dance around hitters or try to out-think the situation. They attacked it.

Davis’ postgame comment said everything you need to know: “Just get ahead and put guys away.” Simple, almost blunt — but it reflects a level of clarity that this pitching staff has desperately needed at times.

And maybe more importantly, it reflects confidence in Mlodzinski. In addition to calling pitches, catchers manage conviction. They decide when a pitcher is thinking too much, when he’s nibbling, when he needs to simplify. On Sunday, Davis stripped it down to its most basic form: here’s your best weapon today, now go use it.

The result? The most dominant outing of Mlodzinski’s career.

The pitcher will get the headlines. Eight strikeouts will do that. But if this is what it looks like when Davis is fully engaged, fully in control of a game plan and fully trusted by his pitcher, the Pirates may have found something far more important than one strong start.

Henry Davis turns bizarre spring drill into unforgettable Pirates moment

While we're talking about Davis' impact on Sunday's win, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention his game-saving play at the plate in the 10th inning.

The play itself harkened back to spring training, when videos circulated of Davis was taking reps on a drill that looked almost ridiculous: catching throws and applying tags to a moving bucket being dragged by catching coach Jordan Comadena. It didn’t look like a real game situation. But it was building something.

On Sunday, it showed up when it mattered most. In the bottom of the 10th, with the tying run charging home, the Pirates executed a chaotic sequence — Oneil Cruz’s throw, Jared Triolo’s scoop — and then it was on Davis to finish it.

He slid to his left, picked a short hop cleanly, and snapped the tag back across his body to get Lindor at the plate. No panic. No hesitation. Just execution.

It looked instinctive in the moment, but it was really about preparation. It was that “silly” drill paying off — turning into one of the Pirates’ most important plays of the weekend.