Pirates Veteran Praises New Manager Don Kelly
NEW YORK — The Pittsburgh Pirates have just started their time under new manager Don Kelly, but one veteran has already seen the differences.
Pirates shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa came back off the 10-day Injured List and made his first start since April 30, playing in the series opener vs. the New York Mets at Citi Field on May 12.
Kiner-Falefa would hit his first home run of the season in the top of the second inning to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. It was also just his second since joining the Pirates at the 2024 MLB trade deadline.
He finished with two hits, just one of two Pirate players to do so along with third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes.
Kiner-Falefa did get charged an error in the bottom of the ninth inning, for what appeared to be an easy ground out, but replay showed it hit the second base bag, allowing Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor to make it to first base easily.
Lindor would come around to score on a sacrifice-fly, as the Mets took the first game of the series, 4-3 in walk-off fashion in nine innings, but Kiner-Falefa didn't dwell on the loss for long.
He spoke on how Kelly has got them playing the best baseball since he arrived in the trade last year last year and that the team overall has benefitted greatly.
"We've been playing great baseball the last couple games," Kiner-Falefa said. "Obviously, on like that tough bounce to me, didn't go our way. But if you look at how we've been playing our game, this is the Pirates I envisioned at the beginning of the year or when I got traded here."
"I think DK is keeping everybody loose and I think we're all just rallying around him. We all love him. He's our guy, and to have him at the helm, you can see the energy. You can see the life in the dugout. We just looked like a ball club again. We look like a real team."
Kelly took over from manager Derek Shelton, who the Pirates fired on May 8 after a 12-26 start, with the team 10 games back from the Chicago Cubs in first place of the National League Central Division, and the third worst record in the MLB.
He previously spent that time under Shelton as the bench coach and is now the manager of the team in the city where he grew up in, playing at Mt. Lebanon High School and later for Point Park University.
Kelly led the Pirates to a series win over the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park this past weekend, which included a 3-2 win on May 9 and a 4-3 walk-off win in nine innings on May 11, after they blew the lead.
Kiner-Falefa sees a team that will never stop fighting and that has shown in these past few games, which he credits Kelly for and the way he's managed.
"Accountability, but you're also seeing yesterday, the Braves come back and score three runs, and I didn't see that same Pirate, 'ugh,' the shoulders dropping," Kiner-Falefa said. "And tonight, they come back, and obviously we fight back to get that run. Tough hops in the last inning.
"But like, we're not only in these games. We're actually — if we had another at-bat, I think we would have scored a run. I think there's just a belief that hasn't been here at all. My comments in the last week were more about the belief and things like that and now, I feel like a complete 360 with DK. So I'm excited. I think everybody in here has got a second life."
