PHILADELPHIA — One play that Clint Hurdle said was unlike anything he's witnessed in his time around baseball could have eliminated any momentum the Pirates gained over the previous two days.
With no one out in the Philadelphia third inning, Andrés Blanco swung at the second pitch from Chad Kuhl, and Elias Diaz immediately threw the ball to first base to try to pick off Andrew Knapp. When Blanco swung, though, his bat went flying from his grasp and into the stands. And with first baseman Josh Bell's eyes on the bat, Diaz's throw went into right field and allowed Knapp to come all the way around to score.
Devastating?
Demoralizing?
No, the Pirates' offense answered by showing what it can do when its top talents click at the same time. Bell hit a two-run homer in the third and had three RBIs, Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 4 and Gregory Polanco went 4 for 4 with a home run in a 6-3 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday night.
"The three of us had good games, and we’re not even all hot right now," McCutchen told DKPittsburghSports.com. "It shows what we’re capable of doing with a couple of us going. It gives you an idea of what we can do when a few more guys get in a good place. The sky's the limit from there."
The win gave the Pirates three of four in the series, improved their record to 40-46, and gave them an opportunity to enter the All-Star break on a good note, depending on their weekend at Wrigley Field.
McCutchen was batting .200 on May 23, but has since raised his average to .289 with two doubles Thursday. Polanco was batting .246 and was in a 4-for-26 slump entering July 1, but he's got 11 hits in 24 at-bats this month as well as a six-game hitting streak. Bell dipped to .226 after having five hits in 33 at-bats before Thursday.
While both were working through their struggles, McCutchen was carrying an offense that ranked 26th in Major League Baseball with a .241 average. Now, all three had multiple hits in the same game for the first time.
"Well, it’s going to bode well for us moving forward," Clint Hurdle said. "Cutch has been going a while. Polanco had a nice game. Man, that’s a big game for him. My gosh, four hits, couple ribbies. ... There’s been some spots where you see some things. This is hopefully something he can ignite and take with us into Chicago."
The breakout began with a play Bell said he does not want to forget:
Knapp scored to put the Pirates behind 1-0 and any deficit can change how a pitcher like Kuhl, who relies on his sinker to create weak contact and challenges hitters with his fastball, can attack an opponent. When Bell returned to the dugout, he assured Kuhl he would redeem himself.
He did so in the fourth by lining this hanging changeup over the wall in left, scoring McCutchen after he doubled to lead off the inning:
"Yeah, that felt good," Bell said. "It stunk. Initial feeling was thank God it didn’t hit me because Diaz throws like 100. Hearing the ball whiz by me and seeing the run score was tough, especially the first run of the game."
After the Phillies tied the score with two runs in the seventh, McCutchen delivered a one-out double in the eighth and Bell followed by pulling an outside changeup down the right-field line for an RBI double.
The 24-year-old set the Pirates' record for home runs by a rookie before the All-Star break, surpassing the 15 that Ralph Kiner hit in 1946.
Polanco is 11 for 31 since dropping to No. 6 in the order, but he said that has nothing to do with the progress he's made over the past week. He's stuck to a routine similar to the one that helped McCutchen break out of his slump, and he's had the former National League MVP encouraging him to be patient.
A more simple approach helped him line an outside four-seam fastball to center for a single in the third. He then capitalized on a hanging changeup for a solo homer in the fourth.
Polanco also led off the seventh with a single and drove in Bell with another in the eighth, extending his hitting streak to six games.
"I’ve been talking to him since April about how I felt even leading up to now," McCutchen said. "We’re able to relate. I’m able to relate with him because he is where he is. I was just there. We can bounce ideas off of each other. He’s able to trust what I tell him because of what I’ve done, what I’ve had to battle."
The Pirates remain seven games behind the first-place Brewers entering a three-game weekend series against the Cubs. After losing four straight to two of the worst teams in Major League Baseball, Bell said there's hope to finally build on momentum in a "critical stretch."
They'll do so with a starting rotation that has the sixth-lowest ERA in the National League and an offense that is starting to look formidable.
"That’s scary," Kuhl said of McCutchen, Bell and Polanco. "As a pitcher, you go through lineups and to see those guys put up the numbers they’re putting up. you go through a lineup and say, ‘Wow, that’s a scary lineup.’"
LANCE’S THREE THOUGHTS
• Kuhl is showing enough to keep his spot in the rotation.
The right-hander needed just 65 pitches for six shutout innings Thursday before allowing two runs in the seventh. He kept his fastball low to create weak contact and mixed in his breaking pitches, mostly leaning on his slider. It was far from pretty when four of the first six batters reached safely, but he got help with three double plays and had eight groundouts to one flyout. He also showed unflappable confidence in his four-seam fastball. His first 27 pitches were fastballs, and he kept them low in the zone to prevent danger. He threw most of his 23 sliders after the second.
"I don’t think that I had the wipeout slider that I have had tonight for the strikeouts, but I got a couple ground balls, a couple double plays and was able to ride that four-seamer out and get some weak contact," Kuhl said.
He threw 95 pitches, 57 for strikes, and has shown that his ceiling could be much higher than expected. Over his last two starts, Kuhl has a 2.08 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. He allowed six hits and pitched seven innings for the first time in his career.
"He earned the opportunity," Hurdle said. "These guys need to continue to knock down mile markers as they go along and become big-league starting pitchers and he was able to do it tonight."
• The bullpen pitched 13 shutout innings in the four-game series, despite being in a difficult spot Thursday night.
Both Felipe Rivero and Daniel Hudson were unavailable. Hurdle turned to Tony Watson in the eighth, and Watson retired all three hitters he faced. After throwing 22 total pitches in appearances on Tuesday and Wednesday, Juan Nicasio secured the win in the ninth to earn his first save since May 15, 2015.
"They’re gritty," Hurdle said of the bullpen. "They’re resilient."
• José Osuna showed he’s much more than a pinch-hitter and probably should have been ranked higher on those prospect lists.
The 24-year-old had not played since the Pirates’ win over the Giants at PNC Park last Sunday, but was given the start when Hurdle chose to give Adam Frazier an additional day off. The idea was that Osuna would provide offense, but it was his defense that shined.
In the second inning, Aaron Altherr drilled a ball off the wall in left field, where Osuna waited patiently and quickly gathered the ball before doing this:
Odubel Herrera was up next:
Osuna became the first Pirates outfielder to record an outfield assist on consecutive plays since Gary Alexander in 1981, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
He wasn’t done there. When Altherr delivered a one-out, two-run single in the seventh, Osuna threw him out trying to take second.
One game, three outfield assists. He had just four outfield assists between Triple-A and Double-A last season, but Polanco wasn't surprised.
"It was impressive, man," Polanco said. "‘Stop running, man. Why do they keep running?’ It was unbelievable. I’ve known him since 2010, so I know he’s got a cannon. Most people don’t know. Now they know."
ON DECK
The Pirates begin their final series before the All-Star break, as Trevor Williams takes the mound at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. First pitch is 2:20 p.m. ET, and Eddie Butler will pitch for Chicago.
