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In Francisco Cervelli, Pirates have a master of illusion

At the signal of strike three, the Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton flipped his bat into the dirt and glared at home-plate umpire Tim Timmons. Stanton had just seen a four-seam fastball from right-hander Ivan Nova, who was en route to a three-hit shutout April 29, smack catcher Francisco Cervelli’s mitt an inch or two off the plate away and below Stanton’s knees.

The pitch was cleverly disguised as a strike, and that’s what counted.

“It doesn’t have to be a strike,” Nova remarked this past week. “It has to look like one.”

Working down in the zone is a principal part of the Pirates pitching philosophy, which prizes first-pitch strikes, pitching to contact and quick outs.