The triple might be the most exciting play in baseball, but home runs remain king.
The Pirates found that out the hard way Monday night against Colorado, as a pair of home runs drove in four for the Rockies to prevail, 6-2, before a sparse, frozen paid crowd of 8,958 at PNC Park.
The home runs, a three-run shot by Trevor Story off of starter Steven Brault (2-1) in the fourth inning and a solo homer by Charlie Blackmon in the eighth off reliever Tyler Glasnow helped offset a pair of triples that turned into the only runs of the game for the Pirates, who were returning home after going 4-2 on the road against the Cubs and Marlins.
Francisco Cervelli had the first, a one-out blooper to right field that got past a diving Carlos Gonzalez for the Pirates' first hit off of Colorado's German Marquez. He later scored on a sacrifice fly by Colin Moran. Starling Marte had the other, ripping a two-out pitch from Marquez into the notch in left-center to score Gregory Polanco in the sixth inning.
Those were the only two hits in the game for the Pirates off Marquez (2-1), who went six innings, striking out six with the temperatures hovering in the 30s throughout the game.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS"I'm calling the weather," shortstop Jordy Mercer, who had one of the Pirates' four hits in the game, an infield single to third base in the eighth inning, told DKPittsburghSports.com. "We were rolling there for a while. Miami, we didn't have much success, but we won two games. That's all that matters. We try to scratch and claw and do what you need to get a win. We had a little bit of momentum (in this game), we just couldn't get over the hump, a few hits in a row strung together. That's alright. We're going to come back (Tuesday). It's going to be even colder. And we're going to go again."
Marquez kept the Pirates off-balance throughout his time on the mound, mixing a fastball that touched 96 miles per hour with some off-speed stuff. Brault, meanwhile, was having trouble spotting his pitches, particularly his slider.
The lefty allowed only five hits in six innings but had just one strikeout and walked two as he gave up five runs, all of which were earned.
"I made some mistakes," Brault admitted. "I was glad I could go six (innings) given the situation, but it was just not good enough. The bite on the slider just wasn't there. I tried to go with that with two strikes. And there were a lot of foul balls on fastballs with two strikes. It was just one of those nights. They did a good job."
The Rockies scored two runs in the first on an RBI double by Chris Ianetta after DJ LeMahieu drew a four-pitch walk to start the game. A wild pitch moved Ianetta to third and he scored on a ground out to first base, giving Colorado a 2-0 lead one out into the game.
It stayed there until the fourth when Ian Desmond walked with one out and Gonzalez hit a seeing-eye single up the middle on a ball Brault let go through because he thought Mercer was playing a shift behind the second base bag.
"That was a bummer," Brault said. "I've had a lot of plays coming up where I've been very aggressive. It helps me. I've always felt comfortable as a fielder. Something I've been working on is that when a bouncer is going up the middle, it's much easier for them to just grab it, step on second and go to first. I swear I looked back and Jordy was right behind second. I must have blanked or something. When that ball was hit, I decided to bring the glove back and we weren't there.
"The problem is that I get 0-2 on the next guy and give up a home run."
That was the problem, as Story hit a rocket into the stands in left field to give the Rockies a 5-0 lead.
That was all of the support Marquez and relievers Chris Rusin and Adam Ottavino would need, as the trio combined to strike out 10 and allow only six baserunners.
"(Marquez) was keeping us off balance," said Corey Dickerson, who had a seeing-eye single in the 7th inning off Rusin to run his hitting streak to 11 games. "He threw well. He was pitching to both sides of the plate really well. I think we could have had, as a collective group, better approaches at the plate. But he pitched a good ballgame. We just got to him too late. It would have been nice to put something together earlier in the game, especially after they put up two in the first. We needed to kind of respond quicker."
My three thoughts:
1. No spark without Harrison atop the order.
The Pirates were playing the first game in what is going to be a six-week period without leadoff hitter, second baseman and all-around spark plug Josh Harrison, after he suffered a broken bone in his hand Sunday from being hit by a pitch in Miami.
It's the same bone he fractured last season after being hit by a pitch, so the Pirates are accustomed to playing without him. But that doesn't mean they weren't lacking a spark Monday night, hours after finding out he'd be gone for an extended period of time.
"That's just what he does. He lights a fire," Mercer told DKPittsburghSports.com. "He's fun to watch. He's like a kick starter. When you lose a guy like that, it's tough. There's no way around it. What do we do? We've got to move around it and keep going. We'll need some other guys to step up and get some playing time."
That didn't happen in this game.
Replacement Adam Frazier went hitless in four at bats in the leadoff spot, though he successfully handled all seven of his fielding attempts. And Max Moroff, recalled from Indianapolis to take Harrison's spot on the roster, struck out in a pinch-hitting role.
The Pirates might be upset about losing one of their locker room leaders for an extended period of time. But they don't have time to pout about it.
2. Dickerson guns down another runner.
The book on Dickerson when he came over to the Pirates earlier this spring in a trade with Tampa Bay was that he was a decent hitter but somewhat lacking defensively.
While 16 games is not a true test of his defensive prowess in the long run, Dickerson did throw out Desmond trying to advance to second on a fly ball by Gonzalez to the left field corner in the sixth for an inning-ending double play.
The outfield assist was his league-leading fourth, putting him on pace for 40 this season. Perhaps at some point, opposing teams will stop running on Dickerson.
"I had a streak like this before, but not this early," Dickerson told DKPS.com. "I hope they don't respect me so I can get a few more. I take pride in what I do. Really, all I try to do is be fundamentally sound, not let people take people take an extra base when I field a ground ball. I pride myself in doing the little things. If I don't get many more assists, that's fine, as long as I don't make errors and not do the routine things."
Dickerson doesn't have the strongest arm in the Pirates' outfield. In fact, with Marte and Polanco out there, he might have the third-strongest arm of their starters. But the accuracy of his throws has made a difference.
"We work on that a lot," Dickerson told me. "I know how much my ball tails and I'm able to lead it far enough left to allow it to come back. It's things that we learn about ourselves as we grow. I'm going to keep working on it. I think I can be a lot better, so I'm going to continue to work on it."
3. Brault continuing to learn, as well.
Brault obviously didn't have his best stuff in this game. That was obvious from the first batter, when he issued a four-pitch walk. But he did battle through six innings. And if he fields that ground ball going up the middle, perhaps he turns a double play that gets him out of the inning and he then doesn't give up a three-run homer to Story.
It's all part of the learning curve for a pitcher who has now made 13 career starts in the majors.
"Usually, my whole goal was to get ahead. I was able to do that, and it didn't go my way," Brault said. "That's kind of funny. I think going into my next start, there's always something to build on. For me, that's being able to put the hitters away. That's not necessarily strikeouts, that's (getting) weak contact, quicker."
