One big inning provides temporary pain relief
Pirates plate eight in seventh inning
Gregory Polanco stood in front of reporters before Thursday’s game and bemoaned the way his season has gone and the vitriol he has received from some Pirates fans.
Then, the Pirates right fielder went out and delivered the go-ahead hit in a wild, come-from-behind, 11-7 win against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park.
It was a game Pittsburgh trailed by 7-1 at one point, thanks in large part to yet
another lackluster start from right-hander Mitch Keller. More on that in a moment. By the time the seventh inning rolled around, the Pirates were down, 7-3.
Ultimately, it was Polanco’s hit that gave the Pirates their lead, but to only mention that would be an injustice to what the Pirates did in the seventh inning.
Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes started it off with a hotshot double into the gap in right-center. Left fielder Ben Gamel walked. Second baseman Michael Chavis ripped a single into left to load the bases. Center fielder Bryan Reynolds then struck the first major blow. He grounded a single into left, scoring two runs and putting runners on first and second. Still no outs.
First baseman Colin Moran singled into right, loading the bases once again. Wilmer Difo roped a single into right-center, scoring Chavis and Reynolds. Still no outs.
Polanco, fresh off his impassioned pregame media session, stroked an absolute missile to the notch in leftcenter, scoring Moran and Difo with a double. As he cruised into second, he pumped his fists and shouted at his dugout, a celebration perhaps fueled just as much by relief as his success.
“Obviously, I want to go out there and show that I can still play, I can still hit,” Polanco said. “And against a lefty — [Cardinals reliever Genesis Cabrera is] a tough lefty right there, 99 mph — and I think that’s my first hit that I got against him. ... I know he’s nasty, and in that moment, that was just part of the celebration, part of the happiness — that I got the big hit right there.”
As if all that wasn’t enough, still with no outs, pinch-hitter Yoshi Tsutsugo caught an 0-1 fastball over the heart of the plate and planted it in the seats in right-center, scoring himself and Polanco.
All told, each of the Pirates’ first eight batters in the seventh inning got on base and scored. That made them the first team in MLB this season to score eight runs in an inning before recording an out. It erased the negative start to the game and sent the Pirates to their fifth win in seven games.
“It feels great. I think a comeback like that, obviously going down early and coming back and taking the lead obviously feels especially great when you battle back like that,” Moran said.
It also helped erase a game that was nearly defined by their starting pitcher’s shortcomings.
Manager Derek Shelton emphasized prior to the game how important it was for Keller to stack a couple of good starts together down the homestretch.
That is something Keller hasn’t done all season. It was part of the frustration early in the year, when pitched well only to stumble in his next start.
In Keller’s last start, also against the Cardinals, he pitched five shutout innings and looked solid. This time, he didn’t. He gave up a first inning home run to Nolan Arenado, three runs on three hits and a walk in the second and another, mammoth homer to right-center from Edmundo Sosa in the third.
He did stretch his outing to 5⅓innings before exiting, but it was not the encouraging step forward he and the Pirates were hoping for.
As it turned out, that didn’t matter. Perhaps that’s a blessing for Keller, a rough start overshadowed by a furious rally. Chavis and Moran recorded four hits, Polanco and Difo tallied three of their own and Tsutsugo delivered the punctuation mark in the seventh inning.
For all the tumult the Pirates have experienced the last few days — a blown lead Wednesday, rumors of an exit for Polanco, a rough go again for Keller — the seventh inning provided some much-needed catharsis.
In a long, brutal season like this one, that was enough for one night.