Frazier’s home run caps win
Eighth-inning shot erases bullpen woes
Adam Frazier crossed home plate, bumped forearms with Cole Tucker and coolly jogged back to the home dugout, his two-run homer Tuesday night giving the Pirates the final runs they would need to beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-6, at PNC Park.
It looked fairly routine, like any of the other seven home runs Frazier has hit from the leadoff spot, a total surpassed only by Barry Bonds (20) and Al Martin (10) in Pirates history.
But this Pirates win felt a little deeper and more substantive than just one guy knocking a ball over a fence. After a bad loss Monday night, the Pirates (2-3) bounced back in a big way Tuesday against a divisional rival.
“This group is cohesive,” manager Derek Shelton said. “They play hard. You watch guys down the line, they’re busting their [butt]. There’s a lot of good things that happened and it showed up [Tuesday].”
Shelton isn’t kidding. A ton has happened. Five games into the season, and the changes that have occurred with the Pirates are notable:
• Their batting order is a jumble. Expected to hit third, Frazier is the new leadoff guy. Josh Bell has been in that No. 3 hole, while Bryan Reynolds was dropped to fifth. Kevin Newman is hitting in Reynolds’ old spot, and Colin Moran — their
hottest hitter — is the cleanup man.
• Their bullpen has encountered issues. A night after blowing a four-run lead in the ninth, it looked like the Pirates would gift-wrap this one for the Brewers, opening the seventh with four consecutive walks. Pirates relievers began this game having allowed 14 runs. Only two teams in baseball had given up more.
• They were also starting a pitcher in Derek Holland who had a 6.08 ERA in 2019 and was viewing this opportunity with the Pirates as sort of a last house on the block.
Credit to the Pirates: They blended all of that together Tuesday for what turned out to be a pretty special victory — Geoff Hartlieb’s first in the big leagues, punctuated by Nick Burdi’s first major league save.
“This was a big win for us,” Reynolds said. “[Monday] night was tough, but that’s baseball. We bounced back well and put together a good, solid game.”
Holland especially. The left-hander went 5⅔ innings and made just one mistake when he allowed Keston Hiura’s two-run homer in the sixth. The changeup Holland has been trying to sharpen had great deception, and he was able to use it on two of his five strikeouts.
“I know in previous years it’s been something that I’ve slowed down on,” Holland said. “I made sure that wasn’t happening today.”
It had been a rough first four games for Reynolds, who started the season 0-for 13, the longest slump of his young career. But in the second inning, Reynolds dumped a single into left-center field, boosting his confidence.
Two innings later, Reynolds drove a double to right field and scored when another hitless streak came to a close, this one from Guillermo Heredia.
“It felt really nice,” Reynolds said. “Yeah, I was sweating it. I still trusted that I would get another hit at some point. I wanted it to happen, so I’m glad it finally did. I didn’t care if I hit it four miles an hour or 180.
“I just wanted to get a hit. It was a weight off my shoulders.”
The win also offered a few subtle moments worth savoring.
Like Holland picking off Avisail Garcia in the second or strong outfield throws from Reynolds and Heredia. There was Hartlieb cleaning up a mess left by Miguel Del Pozo by giving the Pirates two scoreless innings of relief and Burdi with another quick ninth.
Heredia picked up his first hit of the season, while Tucker showed some improvement after striking out twice, chipping in two hits.
All of which is to say this: We know precious little about the Pirates at this point. Their starting pitchers have actually been fairly good the first time through the rotation, but their bullpen is now missing Keone Kela, Kyle Crick and Edgar Santana. Outside of a couple, those who’ve pitched have also been extremely inconsistent.
Meanwhile, home runs have been scarce. Bell does not have one, the same for Reynolds or Newman — guys the Pirates are counting on to supply some semblance of power. Phillip Evans, mostly an afterthought entering spring training, started at third Ruesday while hitting .429. He knocked in a run on a hustle double in the seventh.
“We’re all kind of searching right now, outside of Moran,” Frazier said. “The versatility is there, one through nine. I feel like everybody in the lineup can hit .300. We’re not really worried about where we’re hitting in the lineup. Just go up there, try to put together good atbats and hopefully we can all start picking it up here soon.”
It’s hardly just the hitters, and the Pirates have gotten plenty of positive performances from their pitchers as well. But if this tiny snapshot of a season has told us anything, it’s that we may be in for quite a ride following this team in 2020.
“We talked about it [Monday] night,” Holland said. “As soon as the game was over, when everybody came into the clubhouse, we made sure they knew we fought. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win. We did everything we could and said, ‘Let’s keep that momentum and use that in [Tuesday’s] game. I thought the guys did a great job with that.”