COMEBACK WIN VS. CUBS
Gregory Polanco batted third and played center field Thursday out of necessity. Andrew McCutchen was scheduled to have the day off, and manager Clint Hurdle likes to tell his players about those days in advance, believing the mental aspect of going to sleep knowing your name won’t be on the lineup card the next day can add additional value to the physical rest provided.
When Starling Marte couldn’t start because of a bruised right hand, center field and the No. 3 spot belonged to Polanco. He delivered.
Polanco went 3 for 4 and drove in two runs, including the eventual winner, in the Pirates’ 5-4 victory against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. By beating the Cubs for the second game in a row, the Pirates split the four-game series, evened their record at 8-8 and ended their homestand with a 6-4 record.
Polanco is 5 for 8 with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs in his past two games. He hit a runscoring double in the sixth, forcing Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks from the game, and scored later in the inning. He did more damage in the seventh.
Josh Harrison doubled against Cubs reliever Brian Schlitter. The Cubs went to left-hander Phil
Coke, the Pirates countered by pinch-hitting Corey Hart for Andrew Lambo and the Cubs intentionally walked Hart to get to Polanco.
“You’re more focused and you say, I want to win this fight,” Polanco said. “You want to always be ready every pitch because they walked the hitter before to try to make you out.”
Polanco fell behind in the count, 0-2. He looked at three balls, fouled off two pitches and grounded a 95 mph fastball into left field for the go-ahead RBI.
“He just got a pitch and he just went with it,” Hurdle said. “Didn’t try and do too much, stayed within himself, got the barrel to it. Really good at-bat.”
Sean Rodriguez homered, Harrison doubled twice and Jordy Mercer drove in the tying run in his return to the lineup.
Starter Jeff Locke had one clean inning, the third, out of the five he pitched. He allowed four runs and 11 baserunners — seven hits, three walks, one with the bases loaded and a fielder’s choice.
Jonathan Herrera hit a long fly ball to the gap in left-center field with two on in the second. Rodriguez, starting in left in place of Marte, dived and got his glove on the ball, but it dropped and two runs scored on Herrera’s triple.
“As soon as he hit it, I didn’t think, honestly, it being Herrera, it was going to get that far,” Rodriguez said. “But he definitely mashed it.”
Rodriguez got one back in the bottom half when he smoked his first home run as a Pirates player to center.
“You really don’t feel it off the bat,” he said. “It’s hard to say there’s a feeling. It’s smooth, it’s comfortable, that’s how you want to hit a ball.”
After recording one out in the fifth, Locke worked into trouble. Chris Denorfia bounced a single up the middle and Anthony Rizzo hit a missile off the Clemente Wall in right, putting two runners in scoring position. At this point, the weather — 43 degrees at first pitch, making it tough to grip the ball — impacted Locke, who walked Jorge Soler, then walked Kris Bryant with the bases loaded to force home the Cubs’ fourth run.
“We were designed to throw a two-seam fastball in on Kris Bryant’s hands with the bases loaded and 3-2,” Locke said. “I missed over a left-hander’s head in the batter’s box. Not trying to give him something too good to hit, but at the same time, that’s just such a misfire.”
A double play from Starlin Castro prevented further damage and ended Locke’s outing.
“To get a double play right there, if we don’t get that double play, I’m not so sure we win that game,” Hurdle said.