The most important lesson rookie Quinn Priester took away from his first major-league victory Monday night was the advisability to trust.

“Trust myself,” he said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “(Monday), we trusted the plan, trusted myself a lot more.”

The result was an 8-4 Pittsburgh Pirates victory against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park and an improvement over his first start July 17. In that game, he gave up seven runs, seven hits and two walks in 51⁄3 innings of an 11-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians at PNC Park.

On Monday, he also worked 51⁄3 innings, but he recovered from Ha-Seong Kim’s first-inning home run to keep the game close until the Pirates’ bats took charge. Priester threw enough good pitches in the second, third and fourth innings to keep the Padres scoreless. Overall, he gave up four runs, four hits and three walks while striking out four.

“I think that’s an important thing for young pitchers to have is short-term memory,” manager Derek Shelton said. “He gives up a homer to the first hitter but doesn’t blink on it and continues to go and give us five-plus (innings).

“After he gave up the homer, it could have been a situation where he didn’t execute pitches because we’re talking the top of this (Padres) order is electric, and he continued to make pitches. He continued to stay with the game plan, and I thought that was really important.”

There is, of course, room for improvement, Priester said.

“It still wasn’t perfect,” he said, “but we executed enough to get a win. We make mistakes, too. I know that more often than not, I’m not going to make mistakes. I’m going to be able to keep battling, keep competing … realizing I belong here.”

The 22-year-old Priester belongs with the Pirates because of the progress he has made since he was their No. 1 draft choice in 2019 and the team’s immediate need for fortification of the starting rotation.

After losing J.T. Brubaker and Vince Velasquez to injuries in the spring and demoting Luis Ortiz and Roansy Contreras earlier this season, the Pirates need starters.

It makes sense to insert a rookie into the rotation, with the team undertaking a dramatic youth movement in recent weeks. Priester was one of five rookies who started Monday night, joining Henry Davis, Jared Triolo, Endy Rodriguez and Liover Peguero. Second baseman Nick Gonzales, who played but did not start, and relief pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski make seven.

The victory was especially satisfying to those players because they appear to be the team’s present and future.

“It’s something we want to continue to do,” Priester said. “We know we’re not finished products. We know we’re going to keep getting better with every game. We’re going to keep holding each other accountable and keep winning games.”

Shelton said it’s important for the rookies to grow together.

“It goes back to what (general manager) Ben (Cherington) talked about when he got the job, or we got the job. We were going to identify guys. We were going to develop them and deploy them and we’re starting to see that a little bit.

“Some of it is by necessity of injuries. Some of it is just by guys having earned their way to the big leagues. The thing that I love about it the most is their effort level.

“Even the ball Endy hits (in the fifth inning) that (shortstop Xander) Boegarts throws away. That leads to a run because Endy busts his butt out of the box. Just aggressiveness of running the bases and playing hard, I think with a young group of players, that’s infectious.”

Peguero suggested being around like-minded players of a similar experience level is like being part of a family.

“It’s a rare thing,” he said. “When you have those people around you, they are always there for you. I feel like that makes everything a little bit better and a little more enjoyable.”

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