Losing streak halted with a little assistance
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s a situation that has given the Pirates fits for much of this season.
With the bases loaded, Pittsburgh’s hitters have produced a .167 batting average and .513 OPS, both squarely last in MLB. Whether it’s trying to do too much, poor situational hitting or a combination of both, the Pirates struggled to convert these opportunities.
On Friday at Oracle Park, they received some assistance from an unlikely source in the San Francisco Giants, who came into this one with MLB’s best record (61-35), as well as the lowest WHIP (1.11) and fewest number of walks per nine innings (2.64).
With the Pirates and Giants knotted at 3-3 in the seventh inning, Pittsburgh scored three runs without so much as a hit, the unlikely inning producing a 6-4 victory that helped manager Derek Shelton’s club snap a four-game losing streak.
Walks to Jacob Stallings and Wilmer Difo courtesy of San
Francisco’s Dominic Leone sandwiched Kevin Newman beating out a fielder’s choice at first to load the bases. Leone followed by getting two strikes on Adam Frazier before losing him, the basesloaded walk pushing the Pirates in front.
If that wasn’t enough of a present, Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. made a bigger donation by bobbling what should have been an easy flip to Jarlin Garcia, who relieved Leone, on Ben Gamel’s grounder.
Difo scored easily. Frazier followed with a terrific, heads-up play, never breaking stride while motoring around third base and plating a sixth run by sliding in a tick ahead of Wade Jr.’s throw home.
The victory helped the Pirates improve to 37-60 overall and 18-8 in their past 26 games here dating to April 15, 2012. After taking the lead, the Pirates got solid relief work from Clay Holmes, David Bednar and Richard Rodriguez, who backed a solid start — save for two pitches — from Chad Kuhl.
The Pirates right-hander worked5⅓innings and gave up three earned runs on six hits with a walk and eight strikeouts. All three runs came on two homers. Still, the Pirates have won five of Kuhl’s past six starts, while he has a 2.48 ERA in that time. Friday tied his careerhigh for strikeouts in a game.
Gregory Polanco used a strong swing to help the Pirates jump out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. After Gamel drew an eight-pitch, leadoff walk, Polanco connected on a changeup from Giants starter Johnny Cueto and drove it to the deepest part of the ballpark in right-center field.
Pittsburgh increased its advantage to 3-0 the following inning thanks to a monster swing from Bryan Reynolds, who came into the game leading all National League center fielders with 17 home runs. No. 18 was an absolute bomb, too.
Kuhl was terrific early and struck out six of the first seven batters he faced, all of them via sliders. But after throwing his slider 23 times among his first 39 pitches, center fielder Steven Duggar cranked a spinner over the right-field wall for a solo home run to open the third.
For much of the night, Kuhl’s slider had bite, the ball darting with purpose across the zone. The pitch he threw to Duggar most definitely did not. It simply sat in the middle of the plate, and Kuhl paid the price.
An interesting strategical decision arose for the Giants in the fifth after shortstop Thairo Estrada led off with a bunt single and Kuhl hit Duggar. Trailing, 3-1 and with Cueto at 82 pitches, Kapler decided to trade defense for offense and called on Wilmer Flores to pinchhit. Fortunately for the Pirates, Flores hit into a double play, and Wade Jr. flew out to extinguish the threat.