Alvarez waits for his pitch, then rips it
ST. LOUIS — Pedro Alvarez wasn’t getting much to hit Sunday. So he took his walks — four of them in a row, in fact.
“I just tried to stay within myself and work with whatever they give me,” Alvarez said. “With that being said, just really trying to focus on hitting a pitch I can hit.”
Alvarez walked seven times in his final 10 plate appearances of the series against the St. Louis Cardinals, two of them intentional. The streak of four in a row ended when he hit a long home run that broke a 1-1 tie Sunday.
“I was just trying to stay up there ready to hit,” he said. “Although I had all the walks that I had before, my approach didn’t change pitch to pitch, and that was be ready to hit from pitch one of the at-bat. That’s always what I try to have in mind.”
Alvarez also kept the score tied in the bottom of the 12th. With the bases loaded and two outs, Matt Adams grounded a wouldbe game-winning single to the right side. Alvarez dived for it, stopped it and threw it to Radhames Liz for the final out of the inning.
“It’s one of those plays where you really don’t have time to think anything,” he said. “You just react.”
Polanco polishes details
Already possessing the necessary speed, Gregory Polanco has improved the secondary aspects of stealing bases through the first month of the season.
Polanco has stolen eight bases without getting caught once. He runs aggressively, gets better jumps and does a good job of picking the right situations to steal.
“His education and really graduation through this, he wants to be a base stealer,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “And for him to be a base stealer at this level, he's got to be smarter.”
That education picked up speed in spring training. Polanco worked hard with baserunning coach Rick Sofield in spring training. Polanco also worked with former Pirates outfielder Omar Moreno, a spring training instructor who stole 487 bases in his 12-year career and led the league in steals in 1978-79.
“He’s got to find better reads and he’s got to find a better first step than he had last year,” Hurdle said. “All those things are improving.”
Update on Morton
The Pirates will decide the next step in Charlie Morton’s rehabilitation this week, Hurdle said Sunday, after Morton returns to Pittsburgh for evaluation.
Morton threw 93 pitches in six innings in an extended spring training game Saturday and threw all of his pitches.
“He felt good about it, felt positive about it,” Hurdle said.
The Pirates plan for Morton to throw a side session Tuesday for pitching coach Ray Searage, then determine when and where he will begin his minor league rehab assignment. Those assignments can last for a maximum of 30 days, meaning Morton could return in late May or early June.
Morton is on the 15-day disabled list while he finetunes his delivery after offseason hip surgery. He is focusing on keeping his weight over his back leg during his delivery and shortening the path his arm takes when he throws.