PITTSBURGH — The final piece of the Dream Outfield© appears to have arrived.
Behind Gregory Polanco, the Pirates took the first of a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies by the score of 5-3, raising their record to 78-49, a remarkable 29 games over .500.
Francisco Liriano turned in his 17th quality start of the season, giving up three earned runs in six innings of work, Jung-Ho Kang chipped in with two key RBI hits, and Josh Harrison had a key pinch-hit single that scored that winning run in the eighth inning.
This night, however, belonged to Polanco. Not only did the right fielder provide an offensive spark tonight – three hits, two runs scored, a stolen base and a key RBI base hit in the eighth inning – he also gunned out two runners on the base paths.
In the sixth inning, Rockies catcher Nick Hundley rifled a ball off of the Clemente Wall that off the bat appeared to be an easy double. Instead, Polanco quickly retrieved the ball off of the fence and fired it in to Jordy Mercer at second base. Shocked to see the ball reach Mercer that quickly, Hundley slammed on the brakes, halfway between first and second base and retreated back to first, but was easily thrown out by Mercer on a play that was recorded as 9-6-3.
When @El_Coffee comes up throwing, you need to get back quickly. http://t.co/p76sKEJqEZ pic.twitter.com/DhVWZl4Oib
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 29, 2015
Then, in the top of the eighth inning with the score tied at three and Rockies’ speedster Jose Reyes on third base with only one out, Rockies’ third baseman Nolan Arenado hit a low line drive to right field where Polanco made the catch running towards the infield. With Reyes tagging up and attempting to score the go-ahead run, Polanco unleashed a bullet to home plate, getting Reyes and preventing the Rockies from taking the lead.
If we learned one thing tonight, it is #DontRunOnGregory: http://t.co/ZaAD7kqMoz pic.twitter.com/OWK28MAO0I
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 29, 2015
“That’s one of the fastest guys in the league tagging up on the ball, and [Polanco] is one of the few guys who probably has the opportunity to get the guy,” Hurdle said after the game.
Polanco’s two assists were his eighth and ninth of the season, and the Pirates’ NL-leading 29th and 30th outfield assist of the year. It would be no surprise to see the league begin to be more cautious before trying to take the extra base against this trio of Pirates’ outfielders.
“We’ll let them keep testing,” Josh Harrison laughed after the game. “If they keep testing them they’ll keep getting the same result, and I’m cool with it.”
** Francisco Liriano’s outing was serviceable, allowing only four hits, however two of them traveled over the fence. In the fifth inning, Reyes barreled up a hanging change-up from Liriano, striking the left-field foul pole with a low line drive. In the sixth inning, Carlos Gonzalez launched another Liriano pitch, this time a hanging slider, deep into the right-center field seats, just the sixth extra-base hit Liriano has allowed to left-handed batters this season.
“The ball got elevated later in the game,” Hurdle said. “He’s been our one guy that when he seems to make a mistake, they don’t miss it. He got us to a point we could navigate and for the guys out of the bullpen to come in again and be clean like they were.”
This is the 11th consecutive game that the Pirates have won with Liriano on the mound, despite Liriano not having his A-game for much of August – he has a 4.94 ERA and a 4.32 xFIP in 27.1 innings this month. However, Liriano’s ability to keep things from unraveling and keep the Pirates in games has been important to their strong month of August.
“That’s been my plan – Just do whatever I can to keep the team in the ballgame,” Liriano said.
** The Pirates will look for their 24th series win of the season when they send out red-hot J.A. Happ against the Rockies and lefty Chris Rusin. Rusin has a 4.97 ERA and allowed eleven earned runs in just two innings in his last start against the New York Mets.
