Gregory Polanco didn't wait long for his pitch this time. He stood in the batter's box, saw a first-pitch fastball and swung, striking the ball with the barrel of his bat using an uppercut swing. The ball soared through the sky, landing 421 feet away for a two-run homer in the fifth inning Thursday night.
The hit was one of nine for the Pirates in a 5-2 victory in the first of a four-game series against the Reds at PNC Park, and it was Polanco's second home run of the season. It was yet another display of the long, fluid swing that was slowed during his injury-plagued season in 2017. However, it illustrated so much more about the man who has been the catalyst for the offense through six games.
"He’s 26. He’s not 22, he’s not 23," Clint Hurdle said of Polanco. "He gets it. The man that was the face of the franchise left town and was traded. And it's time for some guys to put some things in. I think Gregory has accepted the opportunity. I think [Starling] Marte has accepted the opportunity. I think [Corey] Dickerson is here to play and do something as special, as well. We have a bunch of guys. Why not now? Why not their time?"
Polanco was limited to 108 games last season because of a lingering hamstring injury and was ineffective when on the field. As a result, he spent his offseason training in the Dominican Republic with the explicit goal of strengthening his core, improving flexibility and regaining the swing that produced 22 home runs and 86 RBIs in 2016.
Hurdle has spoken repeatedly of Polanco's improved athleticism and the impact it's had on his swing. "I love the way Greg is getting his swing off, though," he said after Polanco went 1 for 4 with three RBIs against the Reds. "That’s probably the most pleasing thing to me right now."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOPolanco is now batting .286 with an OPS of 1.162. He has a team-leading 9 RBIs for the Pirates (5-1) with three doubles and seven walks to six strikeouts. He didn't get his ninth RBI until May 12th last year and his seventh walk came on April 24. As impressive as Polanco's swing has been, his improved approach at the plate has led to the hot start.
He averaged four pitches per plate appearance Thursday, and he is averaging 3.60 this season. Reds starting pitcher Homer Bailey threw Polanco two sinkers low and out of the zone in the third inning before trying to produce weak contact with a changeup outside the zone.
Polanco drove the pitch to the warning track in right-center field and although it was caught near the wall by Billy Hamilton, it allowed Jordy Mercer to tag from third, tying the score, 1-1.
"Both," Polanco said when asked if experience or health has attributed to the improved approach. "Experience helps. When you feel good, you can just wait for your pitch and see it in the zone." He did that in the season opener, waiting for a fastball on a 3-0 count before depositing it into the bleachers in right-center field at Comerica Park to lead the Pirates to a win in 13 innings.
The sample size is small, but Polanco is swinging at only 22.7 percent of pitches out of the zone. To compare, he swung at 32.7 percent in 2016 and 35.3 percent in 2017. Only 31.2 percent of the pitches he's seen have been inside the zone, compared to 44.1 percent last season.
The Pirates went just 6-13 against the Reds last season, and their offense was mostly to blame. The Reds' team ERA was 2.65 against the Pirates and 5.98 against the rest of Major League Baseball. The offense entered this game with a plan to make Bailey pay if he threw a four- or two-seam fastball over the plate.
Polanco followed the game plan:
"He’s no longer a rookie," Josh Harrison said. "Maturity. It’s a step he’s been ready to take. It’s shown on the field. Actions speak louder than words. Some guys can speak it. Some guys can do it on the field. … Each year is a new year, and the maturity level he’s showing is a good growth for them."
That ball had an exit velocity of 108.3 mph, giving the Pirates a 3-1 lead they would not relinquish. Polanco has shown patience while maintaining his aggressiveness. Such traits are pivotal for success when batting in the No. 2-hole, which has been statistically proven to receive the most run-scoring opportunities.
Polanco doesn't want to replace Andrew McCutchen. Instead, his motivation has been to work diligently to ensure he stays in the major leagues. Despite what occurred last season — he produced a career-low OPS+ of 81 — he declared he has confidence again. That, Polanco said, is as important as every hour he spent working to ensure he'd be able to stay on the field in 2018.
"Confidence is something I hadn’t had in the past," he said. "I’m not scared to fail now. I’m not scared to miss the pitch. I’m not scared to hit it out. I’m just trusting my talent and putting in a good swing."
1. Brault walks a tightrope but doesn't falter.
Steven Brault, who began the season as a long reliever, started in place of Joe Musgrove and showed again he belongs in the major leagues. The left-hander walked four batters and had seven three-ball counts, but he struck out Joey Votto twice and allowed only one run on three hits.
Brault was pulled following the fifth inning after reaching a pitch limit of 80, but he threw 46 strikes and didn't lose composure on a night when he didn't have his best command.
"First time starting again, getting a little rusty," Brault said. "I had a little trouble feeling my fingers at times. I think what’s important was after I issued the walk I was able to buckle it in and immediately solve the problem. I was happy about that."
Brault got either a strikeout or groundout following each of his walks. He also kept Hamilton off base and didn't allow an extra-base hit. The Reds' lone run against him came in the second when he allowed a pair of singles and threw two wild pitches. Perhaps most important, Brault was able to get through five innings.
Tyler Glasnow was unavailable after pitching three innings Wednesday, so Clay Holmes, who has yet to throw a pitch in the big leagues, was the only long reliever the Pirates could call upon. But Brault, who threw three scoreless innings to earn the win in the season opener, showed yet again he has the composure to stick in the major leagues.
"He was resilient," Hurdle said. "He was able to push through some things tonight. It wasn’t his finest command by any stretch of the imagination. ... He gave us everything we could ask for."
2. Now that's some improvement ... with the help of Bell.
The Pirates' four-run lead when Brault was replaced didn't seem secure given this bullpen's struggles. But Edgar Santana entered in the sixth and pitched the Pirates' first 1-2-3 sixth inning in six games this season, striking out Adam Duvall before getting Scooter Gennett and Jesse Winker. Santana could have been in trouble if it weren't for Bell's outstanding diving catch to rob Gennett of extra bases.
The ball had an exit velocity of 105 mph, according to Statcast, but Bell dove to his right to make the play. The 25-year-old has worked diligently for the past three years to be a better defender at first base, as I documented from the Pirates' voluntary workouts in January. Additionally, Marte failed to make a sliding catch on a low liner in the seventh, but he quickly collected the ball and threw to second base for a fielder's choice for the second out.
Michael Feliz then pitched a scoreless seventh inning, George Kontos gave up just a solo home run to Duvall in the eighth, and Felipe Rivero earned his third save.
"He looked like a completely different cat out there tonight," Hurdle said of Santana. "Free and easy. The ball came out of his hand. Hopefully the experience. Lessons are learned. … If we can just all give them some time, show them some patience and confidence, we’re going to keep feeding him the ball."
3. Keeping Hamilton off base does the trick.
Hamilton went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, which has a remarkable impact. After all, he's batted .302/.349/.387 against the Pirates in his career, and his 50 stolen bases against them are 19 more than he’s had against any other opponent. His batting average on balls-in-play against them is an astonishing .371 and he’s recorded 91 total bases, which is more than he’s gotten against any other foe.
"Yeah, I don’t know if you know, but Billy Hamilton is super-fast, so you try to keep him off the bases as much as possible," Brault joked. "Votto is a guy we game planned for that our game plan worked. It’s nice when things come to fruition like that, but those are (the) guys. You don’t want Hamilton on first when Votto comes up. It’s kind of the two-edged sword there you’re trying to avoid."
4. Mercer's an important piece.
The Pirates couldn’t afford to lose Jordy Mercer, who missed Wednesday's game while recovering from a right finger injury, for any amount of time. He’s far better than Sean Rodriguez defensively, plus his value as a No. 8 hitter can’t be understated, as evidenced with his leadoff double in the third. He later scored on Polanco's sacrifice fly. Mercer fell behind 1-2 before drilling the sixth pitch of the at-bat into the gap in right-center. He was then intentionally walked in the fourth inning and walked in the eighth, which put a runner on for the top of the order.
Mercer also made an impressive catch in foul territory in the fifth, tracking down a pop fly from Hamilton.
5. They're not perfect, but experience shows.
The Pirates haven’t been flawless by any means, but they’re showing the composure of a veteran team. They’re batting .286 with runners in scoring position — the sixth-highest mark in the National League — and .300 with two outs and runners on, which ranks third. Additionally, they’ve walked 28 times in six games. That’s nine more walks than their first six games of last season. Opponents have thrown first-pitch strikes to the Pirates only 9.2 percent of the time — the third-lowest mark in the NL.
Harrison reached base three times against the Reds, and Dickerson went 2 for 4 with a double, triple and an RBI.