Rodriguez, Polanco reward Hurdle's faith

The sight of .162-hitting Sean Rodriguez receiving an intentional walk wasn't even the strangest thing about Wednesday night's game at PNC Park. Far from it.

That might not have even cracked the top five.

Not when you have a run scored on a ball that goes into the outfield off a baserunner's head. Not when two teams combine for 18 walks.

Not when the Pirates did the heretofore-unthinkable by blowing one four-run lead and then nearly blowing another. And that was just in the first five innings.

But to their credit, the Pirates survived both. In a bit of a departure from recent games, the Pirates not only scored a run, they won a game. Pittsburgh snapped its three-game losing streak with a wild 11-9 victory over the Dodgers at PNC Park to get back on the right side of .500.

To quote the late Bob Prince, the Pirates had 'em all the way. Er, something like that.

The game was effectively decided in the bottom of the sixth by two of the most unlikely of heroes. With the Pirates clinging to a one-run lead at 8-7, Corey Dickerson reached on an infield single that was initially ruled an out. Give an assist to Hurdle for correctly challenging the call.

Then, with two on and one out, the much-maligned Rodriguez singled to left to score Dickerson, one of his four runs on three hits. It was just Rodriguez's second hit in 22 at-bats and first RBI since May 19:

And if that weren't enough, Gregory Polanco — another recent target of PNC Park boobirds — followed that up with a pinch-hit, two-run double down the right field line to make it 11-7. Though he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple, that hit snapped a 1-for-10 skid:

Whether this means that either player is out of his extended slump remains to be seen but, needless to say, Clint Hurdle was ecstatic for both players — as well as the outcome — when I asked:

"It's been a fight for Sean, and Greg is working through his own set of challenges," the manager said. "So for both of them to come through that inning was a big pickup for us. We had four multiple-run innings on the night. They had three. Felt like I was back at Coors Field. Just come on, stop. I felt like George Jetson on a treadmill, 'Jane, stop this crazy thing.' Just got out of the way and let them play."

Both Rodriguez and Polanco said talks with Hurdle and hitting coach Jeff Branson earlier Wednesday paid dividends.

For Rodriguez, who drew two of the Pirates' 10 walks, it was a matter of keeping it simple, he says.

"Keep focusing on the task at hand," he said. "Focus on the process, not the result. As difficult as that is, because it's a result-based game, just focus on the process.

"It's a round bat, a round ball played on a diamond. If that's not contradicting enough."

For Polanco, it meant standing back a little more off the plate allowing him to use his 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds to get around on the ball.

"Stay ready and good things will happen," he said. "Live for the moment and trust myself and trust the people that are helping me to stay confident."

Actually, the Pirates could be plenty happy about quite a few other clutch performances like Josh Harrison's two-run double in the second and David Freese's two-run double in the fourth. Both those extra-base hits gave the Pirates four-run leads.

However, that first four-run lead didn't even last an inning. And you can't even blame the Pirates' leaky bullpen for that one.

That would have been on Trevor Williams, who has now taken a loss or no decision in his last four starts and has given up 17 earned runs over that span.

Williams gave up four earned runs on four hits, barely lasting three innings. With two outs in the third, he put Max Muncy and Justin Turner on base with walks and Matt Kemp scored both on a double off the wall to center. Williams then hung a 91-mph four-seamer over the heart of the plate that Cody Bellinger crushed 371 feet over the wall in right to tie the score at 4-4:

The mild-mannered Williams was adamant that he made only two bad pitches that the Dodgers made him pay for. But, he says, he knew he was in for a wild night early:

"I didn't see it sharp, 27 pitches I think in the first inning. Once it got tied up I felt we needed to go in another direction tonight," Hurdle said of the decision to yank his starter.

"I don't see his pitch execution what it was in the past, and the swing-and-miss. A lot of foul balls again tonight. He started to get into a better rhythm, I thought, in the second. Third inning we were two outs and nobody on and it didn't end well for us. We've got some work to do with him. He likes to work. Nothing he didn't have to do before."

And that wasn't even the worst outing by a starting pitcher.

That would have been Caleb Ferguson, who was making his major-league debut and whose ERA is now 21.60. The Dodgers rookie lasted just 1 2/3 innings after giving up four runs on just two hits, all with the 21-year-old's parents looking on from the seats.

Of course, Ferguson became just a sidenote Tuesday, especially after the Dodgers nearly overcame a four-run deficit in the fifth when Steven Brault served up a three-run shot to Kemp on a 95-mph four-seamer to make it a one-run game.

The Dodgers threatened in the sixth, putting a runner at first with one out, but Dickerson made a wonderful running catch down the left field line on a Breyvic Valera line drive. Dickerson then threw back to first to double off Austin Barnes:

The Dodgers made things interesting again in the ninth against Felipe Vazquez, who was looking for a four-out save.

Los Angeles had two runners on with one out but the closer got Kemp, who had five RBIs, to line out to Polanco in right field. Then he got Bellinger, who has homered in each of the first two games of this series, to end the game on a groundout to Harrison at second.

It was Vazquez's 11th save of the season and first since May 30 vs. the Cubs after blowing four of his previous five chances.

"It's good for us, great team win," Williams said. "We scratched and clawed all game. It was one of those games where it was a bare-knuckle fight. We pulled it off and I'm glad that we did."

1. Crick runs dry. 

As poor as the outings were for Williams, Brault and Ferguson, man, they've got nothing on Kyle Crick. Safe to say the audition for the eighth-inning setup spot is still open after Tuesday.

Crick had two walks, along with two wild pitches and a balk that scored Kemp to make it 11-8.  Crick gave up two runs on just one hit in 2/3 of an inning.

2. Speed it up, please.

Granted, there was a lot of scoring and a lot of walks, but no nine-inning game between two teams floating around .500 in early June should last 3:48. That's ridiculous.

After limiting mound visits, I'm not sure what else MLB can do, but I can tell you a good bit of the 14,327 that showed up had left long before Bellinger grounded out to end the game. It was the kind of game where Edgar Santana pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, and took 19 pitches to do it.

There were 14 different pitchers used: Eight by the Dodgers and six by the Pirates. Had Vazquez not been able to close out the game, the Pirates had no other pitcher available and could have been using a position player.

3. Nova closer to return. 

After seeing Williams struggle again, the return of Ivan Nova can't come soon enough.

The Pirates' de facto ace — at least until Joe Musgrove develops — reported no problems after pitching a simulated game Tuesday. It's not expected that Nova will require a rehab stint, meaning that his return could come sooner rather than later.

Nova, who has been out since May 24 with a sprained right ring finger and hasn't won since April 15, could provide the Pirates with a needed boost if healthy.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY