START SUSTAINABLE?
Here’s what the team is doing to keep on a roll
FMIAMI — our games is hardly enough to establish a trend, especially when it comes to Major League Baseball games played in March. At the same time, the sample size in some cases is bigger than what we saw during a four-game sweep in Miami.
A few of the storylines that popped up at loanDepot Park stretch back to spring training — and it’s hard to not feel at least a little encouraged by what we saw, the team beginning the season with a four-game sweep in one city on the road for the first time since 1903.
Additionally, after the Pirates won on Monday against the Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh is off to best start and upped their record to 5-0 for the first time since 1983
“You’re talking about a team that was a playoff team last year,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on Sunday, describing the Marlins. “That’s a really good club. The thing that stands out to me is that we have 26 guys on our roster, and over four games, all 26 did something to help us win. That’s really important.”
I might have a few screws loose, but I’m not crazy enough to cite 26 reasons why this series and what we saw could matter in the grand scheme of things. That would also be the definition of jumping the shark. At the same time, there was some legitimately encouraging stuff.
As for what we may have learned ...
This bullpen should be good
Pirates relievers worked 20 1/3 innings (fourth-most in MLB) against the Marlins and allowed just two earned runs. Only two bullpens throughout MLB have allowed fewer.
Not only that, the Pirates bullpen walked just four, struck out 21, posted a batting average against of .123 and a WHIP of 0.59.
This without Colin Holderman and Carmen Mlodzinski, and with David Bednar still working his way back into peak form.
Luis Ortiz delivered four scoreless frames. Jose Hernandez went 1-2-3 twice. Hunter Stratton and Ryder Ryan have been solid for weeks now. Bednar will be fine. Meanwhile, Aroldis Chapman and Ryan Borucki were their typical selves, and Josh Fleming has pitched well in a bullpen role before.
Offense played to its approach
Pittsburgh hit four home runs (pace: 162), which obviously isn’t anything to sneeze at, although Shelton’s club did hit 159 a season ago. With Oneil Cruz back and Rowdy Tellez added, the expectations should be higher.
What resonated more was the patience with which hitters operated.
The Pirates scored 31 runs and posted an on-base percentage of .382, both ranking fourth in MLB. They did that without much from Andrew McCutchen and Jack Suwinski, two guys who should be primary run producers.
When it comes to seeing pitches and getting on base, the Pirates currently rank second with 26 walks.
Hayes can hit
One of those hitters who had success against the Marlins was Ke’Bryan Hayes, who tallied eight hits. He became the first Pirate since Barry Bonds in 1988 to open the season with four consecutive multi-hit games.
This is something that stretches back to spring. Hayes has been hard on himself, saying he hasn’t felt completely comfortable at the plate, but it’s sure tough to tell. Since the start of spring, Hayes has struck out just eight times in 76 plate appearances.
That’ll play.
“I feel all right,” Hayes said. “Not really where I want to be completely. But really just right now, I feel like I’m doing a good job of swinging at what I want to swing at and getting pitched up in the zone and taking the walks.”
Pound the zone
The entire pitching staff attacked the zone well, something the Pirates have known they need to improve upon.
No pitching staff in baseball is averaging fewer than the Pirates’ 14.38 pitches per inning, while the entire staff has a 3.60 ERA.
That also happened without Mitch Keller’s best work and despite a poor start from Bailey Falter on Sunday.
Young arms race
Partially away from the major league club, it was a solid weekend from some of the organization’s top arms.
Jared Jones (10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings Saturday) was the headliner, but Paul Skenes and Quinn Priester were both dominant in their Triple-A debuts.
Combined, those three racked up 54 whiffs during 14 1/3 innings.
You may think citing whiffs is silly, but if opposing hitters can’t hit what Pirates pitchers are throwing, that’s generally a good sign.
It would also help the Pirates if Priester kept his velocity up and challenged for that No. 5 spot. One would think it has to be fairly fungible at this point.
Dirty work
The Pirates swept the Marlins without exactly playing clean baseball.
Pittsburgh made four errors in four games, two by Hayes, a trend that almost assuredly will not continue.
There were also several outs made on the bases, either from poor decisionmaking (Oneil Cruz) or being a little too aggressive (Michael A. Taylor contact play, a desire to test Josh Bell’s arm at all costs). It’s early. It could take the Pirates time to strike a balance.
But overall, they fared well without playing their most fundamentally sound baseball, in large part because they generated offense and pitched well.
Obviously none of this guarantees success during a 162-game season. We saw what happened last year with 20-8. But there does seem to be a strong chemistry developing with this team early, its confidence growing.
Tellez has seen a few things in his MLB career and has already been impressed with the belief that has been developing and how the Pirates don’t seem to be intimidated by much.
“I’ve said it multiple times, but playing the Pirates last year at the beginning of the season was tough,” Tellez said. “There was a different energy. You bring in some older players who have been on winning teams, guys who have won World Series. I think it says a lot when you can bring those guys in to build a team.”