PITTSBURGH — With the Pirates trailing by a run and needing to find a way to scratch a run across against Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta, Clint Hurdle turned to the rookies.
Entering the game as pinch hitters, Adam Frazier turned an 0-2 count into and eight-pitch walk and then Josh Bell singled on the first pitch he saw in his major league career. John Jaso, Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutchen, David Freese, Starling Marte and Josh Harrison then all reached base in order in what would become a four-run seventh inning that turned that one-run deficit into an 8-4 victory for the Pirates.
But it all got started with the walk from Frazier. Arrieta issued just one on the night, but it turned out to be a pivotal one.
“It was as good of an at-bat as we had all night,” Hurdle said. “Then Bell laces the first pitch he sees to get that inning rolling. That was fun to watch.”
It was fun for the players involved, as well.
“Being down a run right here and leading off the inning, I knew I had to do whatever I could to get on base,” Frazier said. “The past week and a half, two weeks, we’ve been battling the whole games. We knew we weren’t out of it. We just kept doing what we’ve being doing and fought our way through it.”
“I’m on top of a cloud right now,” Bell said. “It’s an incredible experience, feeling that ball come off the bat and running to first base.”
Bell was looking to be aggressive early, and he said he got a bit fortunate that he was able square up Arrieta’s offering.
“I was just sitting fastball, down and away,” Bell said. “I figured, I saw him do that to Frazier the first pitch and I thought that was my best bet. I don’t know exactly what the pitching coach said to him when they had that meeting, but I guess he threw like a curveball or slower slider up and towards the middle of the plate. I was able to drive it.”
He credited Frazier with not only drawing the walk ahead of him, but taking some of the wind out of Arrieta’s sails with his long battle.
“He’s been doing that all year,” Bell said. “Hitting behind him in Indy, it’s the same old song. It’s a stereotypical Frazier at-bat. Just fighting off seven or eight pitches, possibly tiring the pitcher out, and getting me a cookie.”
The rest of the lineup immediately responded to the jump-start the youngsters provided.
“It was cool to see [Bell] do what he’s done in Triple-A, and to come up here and continue that with one swing and one pitch,” McCutchen said. “That’s something you don’t see every day: a big situation down a run and [Arrieta] starts him off with a first-pitch off-speed pitch and he drives it into the gap.”
McCutchen had a big night at the plate himself, going 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. He also reached base on a hit batsman. He said the key to the Pirates’ success all night against Arrieta was getting timely hits when they needed them.
“The thing about him is he gives you opportunities,” McCutchen said “We’ve had plenty of opportunities. There have been maybe a handful of times when he’s faced him and he’s been lights-out. But a lot of times in a lot of games where we face him, we’ve had a lot of opportunities. Today was just, we were able to come through in those opportunities that we got more times than not.
“We’re getting those big hits. We had those pitches out over the plate and were able to hit them as opposed to miss them. So, we were able to do that today and that was the difference in the game.”
David Freese started off the scoring with a solo home run. It was the first homer for a Pirates players off Arrieta since September of 2013. Two batters later, Sean Rodriguez hit a two-run shot to left field to give the Pirates an early 3-0 lead. It was another in a series of strong performances from the Pirates’ bench players, whether in pinch hit or fill-in starter roles.
“Our depth has been really solid for us all season on both sides of the ball,” Hurdle said. “Freese has shown power from center field to right field like no one I’ve had in a long time. I’d have to go all the way back to Ellis Burks to see a right-handed hitter that can drive the ball the way he does to right field. Rodriguez has shown up on offense with a lot more consistency than we saw last year as well as the added defense.”
Francisco Liriano started and thew five-plus inning of three-hit baseball. He dealt with a little bad luck and some inefficiency that held him back from a more-positive outing.
“He took a one-run, two-hit game into the sixth inning,” Hurdle said. “[There were] a couple balls that we didn’t glove and put outs away, a couple walks with one out, but I thought he did much better tonight.”
Hurdle was referring to a pair of errors at third base by Freese, the second of which came into score on Miguel Montero’s two-run home run. After Freese’s error, Liriano allowed a single to Jason Hayward, and Hurdle ended Liriano’s night after 96 pitches. Juan Nicasio served up the home run to Montero.
“The last two starts, I’ve felt a lot better,” Liriano said. “I didn’t go as deep as I wanted to, but everything is getting better little by little. Trying to go deeper in starts, so things are starting to go the way I want them to.”
TIGHT PLAY
Polanco was removed from the game with left hamstring tightness after running out a ground ball in the Pirates’ seventh inning. The play turned out to be a pivotal one, as Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo threw the ball beyond the reach of pitcher Travis Wood, who was covering first, allowing Frazier to score from third and continuing the Pirates’ big inning. Polanco was replaced on the bases by Eric Fryer.
“I didn’t like the way he finished running,” Hurdle said. “A couple times on the road, we took him out late, just because we have a guy that’s probably going to be able to go get a ball deeper in the gap than he is. So for safety’s sake, we got him out. We’ll see where we are tomorrow with it.”
UP NEXT
Chad Kuhl will make his third major league start against Jon Lester Saturday night. The Pirates are now 7.5 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central and 2.5 games behind the New York Mets for the final Wild Card spot.
