There isn't a simple formula to ignite a struggling offense. One player's issues can be different than others. Film study can reveal some possible answers, particularly with pitch selection. Clint Hurdle and his staff receive reports from the Pirates' analytics department on offensive trends.
All of the information can be applied in pregame routines, both in the batting cage and on the field in batting practice, to address any underlying issues with hitters. Hurdle spoke of making possible changes after his offense's slump last week; however, he took a different approach to try to get his hitters hot again.
Rather than making drastic changes, he didn't shuffle the lineup and delivered a simple message in a team meeting Tuesday evening. The result was 29 total hits during seven hours of baseball at PNC Park on Wednesday, as the Pirates split a doubleheader against the Tigers, losing the first game, 13-10, and winning the second, 8-3, to snap a five-game skid.
"It was just believing in one another," Corey Dickerson told DKPittsburghSports.com when asked of any change in mentality at the plate. "I feel like when you lose a few ballgames, people tend to want to think about changing lineups or change where people are hitting, stuff like that. It shows support. It shows belief. [Hurdle] believing in us and having us there for a reason. It's important to have consistency. If you don’t have consistency, you’re going to be chasing your tail all season. Once your leader, your coach, is doing it, it’s hard to follow suit."
The Pirates, now 13-11 and 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Cardinals, were unable to utilize the same lineup for both games. Dickerson, though, was also referring to a consistent message delivered by Hurdle and his staff. The Pirates were at their best when having smart, disciplined at-bats, and they struggled last week when chasing pitches early in counts.
The club batted .196/.251/.304 over their previous seven games entering Wednesday, averaging less than three runs and losing six of seven, including a four-game sweep in Philadelphia. The Pirates had an off day Monday and there was a team meeting prior to Tuesday's scheduled home game, where both Hurdle and hitting coach Jeff Branson provide points of emphasis for the series.
Players would not divulge details of what was discussed, other than all involved didn't overreact to a one-week slump. The offense responded with a familiar approach of chasing starting pitchers early in games with long at-bats and capitalizing on mistakes.
They had 14 hits in the first game, including multiple hits from four players. Dickerson, now batting .321 this season, went 3 for 5 with two runs and a double. Francisco Cervelli, whose .292 average ranks second on the team, went 3 for 4 with a walk, tying a career high with six RBIs, including this three-run homer in the third inning, which Statcast measured at 466 feet:
Colin Moran, leading all National League rookies in batting average entering the day, hit a two-run homer in the second inning. Josh Bell, stuck in a 3-for-24 slump, went 1 for 5 with two runs and two RBIs. They collaborated to chase Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann after only three innings, forcing him to throw 66 pitches in that span.
"We didn't want to change much," Moran said afterward. "Try to hit reset. We had an off day. We’ve been playing pretty good baseball. We had a slide pretty much in only one series, so you hit reset, come back and ready to play. It’s kind of funny how it works sometimes. It could be contagious. Once you see good swings, it kind of helps and kind of gets you going."
The Pirates lost the game because of struggles on the mound. Jameson Taillon allowed seven earned runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings, and four relievers gave up six runs, three of which were earned, on 10 hits.
With the straight doubleheader to be followed by a day game Thursday, Hurdle was unable to stick with his core lineup of Gregory Polanco batting second, followed by Starling Marte, Bell, Dickerson, Cervelli, Moran and Jordy Mercer for the second game. Instead, he turned to his bench, including Jose Osuna, who was recalled to serve as the 26th man.
The approach didn't change, though. Four different players had at least two hits, including Osuna, whose three-run homer in the second inning of the nightcap gave the Pirates a lead they would not relinquish:
Mercer and David Freese also had two hits, with the latter driving in a run on a double in the eighth. The Tigers' starter for game two, Matthew Boyd, a left-hander who had allowed only three runs in three starts, needed 94 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings.
The Pirates had 15 hits, including three by backup catcher Elias Diaz, and were backed by their pitching. Chad Kuhl struck out eight and allowed three runs in six innings. Michael Feliz, George Kontos and Felipe Vazquez each threw a scoreless inning to secure the win.
"We were able to go do some things on offense," Hurdle said after the first game. "The beautiful thing about this game is it’s all about community. It’s all tied together. ... Things can be contagious. We need the bat thing to be contagious."
They batted a combined .363 as a team over the two games with seven extra-base hits and went 8 for 24 with runners in scoring position, although they stranded 22 on base. Despite the disastrous week, the Pirates rank fifth in the majors in batting average and eighth in runs.
"What people don’t talk about is people have hit the ball hard in good places, and you don’t have nothing to show for it," Dickerson said. "People never talk about those. It’s all about success and failure. You either succeed or you fail. The way we look at it, as hitters, if you’re hitting the ball hard, you’re doing your job."
Their starting rotation's 4.10 ERA is the sixth-highest mark in the National League, and the bullpen's 1.52 WHIP is the worst. The offense's feat of strength in front of an announced crowd of 9,396 for the two games was labeled by Hurdle as "some progress," but this doubleheader was a reminder that a lineup of veterans with a deep bench may be the least of the club's weaknesses.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS1. Taillon searching for answers.
Taillon is obsessive about the art of pitching. He'd sit at his locker stall inside the clubhouse at LECOM Park during spring training and watch whatever game was on the television above, commenting on each pitch. Although he's only started 48 games in the major leagues, he usually knows what exactly caused any issues for him on the mound.
The 26-year-old isn't sure what has caused his recent struggles, though. He has allowed 12 earned runs on 14 hits in 5 1/3 innings over his last two starts. Taillon only allowed two earned runs through his first three starts — a span of 20 1/3 innings — including a one-hit shutout against the Reds on April 8.
He threw 54 of his 75 pitches for strikes against the Tigers, producing 15 called strikes and 11 swinging; however, he struggled with glove-side command, particularly against right-handed hitters. Taillon left pitches over the plate, and he couldn't take advantage of two-strike counts, giving up a solo home run to Leonys Martin with two strikes and a two-run double to Miguel Cabrera on two strikes in the fourth.
Taillon said he was unsure if there was a common thread between this and his start against the Phillies last Thursday, which lasted only 1 2/3 innings, and he planned to take a closer look.
"I’ll have to digest that and look at it a little bit more," Taillon said. "The last one I felt just kinda got away from me quickly. There was some weird stuff. Today it was just prolonged through the whole outing. First batter, again, it felt fine. I just need to go back, watch the video and watch the execution of it."
Taillon had a stretch of eight starts last season from July 15 to Aug. 22 when he allowed 36 earned runs in 39 1/3 innings for an 8.24 ERA, but he said that was the result of sloppy mechanics that resulted in his fastball going flat. Now, Taillon expressed confidence in his "stuff," saying each of his pitches "felt really good."
His four-seam fastball velocity reached 97 mph and his curveball created seven called strikes, but it did little to ease his mind following a start that pushed his ERA to 4.91 through five starts. He's now failed to pitch through the fifth inning in nine of 48 career major-league starts.
"I’d be more concerned if my fastball [velocity] was down like five mph or something, but maybe it makes it tougher because when your stuff is good, it’d be easy to say, 'My stuff just wasn’t good, I had a bad outing," Taillon said. "But when your stuff is good, that’s not really the reason, so there’s something else there, which means I have to dig a little deeper."
2. Efficiency still an issue for Kuhl.
Kuhl is another example of the Pirates' issues with pitch efficiency, although he's beginning to trend in the right direction. The right-hander pitched through the sixth inning for a second consecutive start, and the strikeouts matched a career high. He also only walked one batter after walking three in two of his previous six starts.
He threw 61 of his 102 pitches for strikes, but he retired only five batters on three pitches or less and didn't have command of his curveball for much of his outing. Kuhl also came close to imploding in the fourth, allowing a leadoff triple, followed by an RBI single. The Tigers then had runners on first and second before JaCoby Jones lined out to Max Moroff, who converted a double play.
Kuhl also allowed a two-run homer to Martin in the sixth, and he's now 3-1 with a 4.55 ERA and 1.52 WHIP. Opponents are batting .315 against him with a .367 on-base percentage. "The fastball command issues I had early on are kind of getting ironed out, so I think you just have to flip the page, next chapter on that."
The Pirates' pitchers have averaged 5.7 innings per game started, which is tied for the third-highest mark in the majors, but they are still getting behind in the count too often. "There’s still some conflict going on with some of our starters as far as that package and pitch efficiency; however, they’ve all shown the ability to roll their sleeves up and make a pitch when they have to," Hurdle said.
3. Can't ignore other issues.
The Pirates' outfield defense has exceeded preseason expectations. Dickerson and Marte are among the top defensive outfielders according to every advanced metric. Sean Rodriguez has also proven to be an above-average defender, as evidenced by his over-the-shoulder catch in left field against Jose Iglesias in the seventh inning of the second game.
But the defense of the Pirates' starting infielders has been shaky at times with Josh Harrison out. Adam Frazier has made mistakes at second base. Moran's athleticism needs to improve to make the type of difficult plays Freese makes. Bell has also struggled at times over at first base after he was an above-average defender there in 2017.
"We haven’t had the opportunity to go out and do defensive work we need to do," Hurdle said. "That’s no excuse. We knew that coming in we were going to need to work and continue to improve defensively so we could be dependable. We haven’t had the opportunity to work and we can be a little more dependable in the infield in some situations."
The Pirates aren't defending well enough by any stretch. Their negative-6 defensive runs saved as a team ranks 24th in the majors. Additionally, the bullpen continues to struggle. Feliz's clean inning in the seventh inning of game two was a bit deceiving since Iglesias nearly hit a home run down the left-field line that went foul, and twice Victor Martinez hit a ball deep that just went foul.
Kyle Crick gave up a two-run homer after replacing Taillon in the fourth inning. Enny Romero, the lefty claimed off waivers two weeks ago, gave up four runs on four hits.