NEW YORK — Clint Hurdle gathered his players and coaches in the visitors clubhouse at Citi Field Monday afternoon to present a lineup change and discuss how to re-establish what the Pirates had lost.
Starling Marte was moved to the leadoff spot, followed by Josh Bell in the two-hole and Josh Harrison batting third. Then, Hurdle emphasized the need to start taking losses more seriously, to cultivate the winning atmosphere the Pirates had for the first six weeks of the season.
The lineup changes, and Hurdle's message to his offense, played out brilliantly hours later. Although the bullpen nearly blew a five-run lead, the new top three in the order accounted for five runs in a 6-4 victory over the Mets, snapping the Pirates' five-game losing streak.
They will require more than one win to recover from losing 24 of their previous 34, but the Pirates rediscovered a formula that was lost. "Everybody picked somebody up," Hurdle said, beaming. "That’s what we were doing earlier. That’s what we need to do more of now."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOThe Pirates, now 37-41 and 8 1/2 games back in the Central Division, had scored only three runs in their previous three games and batted .214 as a team during their nine-game homestand. So, Hurdle opted to make a wholesale change to his lineup, beginning with moving Marte from third to leadoff.
Marte batted in the three-hole for 61 of 63 games this season and hadn’t batted leadoff since last season. However, Hurdle wanted to see how his speed could help atop the order. Also, Bell, who was moved from cleanup to sixth earlier this month, had reached safely in 14 straight games and had hit safely in nine of his last 10. Harrison, meanwhile, was batting .429 with runners on, but he wasn't receiving enough run-scoring opportunities.
"You need to shuffle things up sometimes," Harrison said. They combined to reach safely in eight of 15 plate appearances, scoring five runs while driving in three with two walks and two stolen bases. The impact was immediate.
Marte reached on an error, stole second base and advanced to third on a ground out by Bell. Harrison then drove him in with a sacrifice fly to center field for a 1-0 lead. The Pirates had been outscored by 18 runs and posted a combined .682 OPS in the first inning of games this season.
"If it's broken you have to fix it," Bell said. "It might have been the spark we needed."
Gregory Polanco's solo home run in the second inning gave the Pirates a two-run lead, and the lineup turned over for another member of the top three to contribute in the third. Harrison hit a one-hopper with two outs to Mets third baseman Luis Guillorme, whose throw to first went over Kevin Plawecki's head for a two-base error.
Two batters later, Elias Diaz, hitting fifth behind Colin Moran, singled on a line drive to center to score Harrison. The Pirates had their leadoff batter reach base in five innings, compared to only three times for the Mets (31-45). Meanwhile, Jameson Taillon threw five scoreless innings, despite walking two batters in the first.
Taillon added a sixth scoreless frame after the top three did more damage. Marte led off the sixth inning with a six-pitch walk and stole second again — his 16th stolen base of the season — on Mets reliever Tyler Bashlor. Then, Bashlor looked over his shoulder to hold Marte at second and threw an elevated four-seam fastball that Bell drove down the left-field line and over the wall for a two-run homer:
Bell has faced more breaking pitches in his sophomore season; however, Marte's aggression on base led to the Mets' pitchers throwing Bell more fastballs. It was Bell's first home run since May 31 and only his second multi-RBI game since May 15.
"When you have a guy like that you have to respect the speed," he said. "He can steal second and third. I haven’t done that in a long time. A lot of the balls I’ve been hitting that way are fly outs, lazy fly balls."
The five-run lead almost disappeared in the seventh, though. Taillon was pulled after allowing back-to-back doubles, the second of which scored the Mets' first run. Taillon allowed four hits with three walks to five strikeouts in six-plus innings. Tyler Glasnow promptly walked the first batter he faced before serving up a four-seam fastball down the middle to Wilmer Flores, who hit a three-run homer to left, cutting the Pirates' lead to one run.
"We worked to get to a very good spot in the ballgame and very quickly we had our hands full," Hurdle said. Steven Brault limited the damage by getting an inning-ending double play with help from Moran. The Mets threatened in the eighth with a one-out walk off Kyle Crick, followed by a ball hit by Jose Reyes down the left-field line. But Austin Meadows cut off the ball to limit Reyes to a single, and Crick got two quick outs to end the inning.
The top of the order helped the bullpen get a much-needed insurance run, too. Marte singled to center to lead off the ninth, Bell walked on five pitches and Harrison reached on an infield single to load the bases. Two batters later, Diaz lined out to right-center, allowing Marte to tag and score a decisive run.
"A lot of it is getting runners on and being able to build innings," Harrison said. "Today we were able to do that a few times. The more times you do that, you have a chance to come out on top like we did tonight."
Felipe Vazquez struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 15th save and clinch the win. The Pirates left nine on base and went 3 for 10 with runners in scoring position. They also benefited from the Mets committing three errors and nearly let another win slip away. Bell, though, was a hopeful a win such as this can help re-establish what was gradually lost after each of their defeats over the past six weeks.
"The overall fight mentality," Bell said. "Us versus them. ... It’s not easy to get accustomed to [losing], but I feel like it’s one of those things where it has to hurt after every loss. ... You have to put a foot down somewhere. Hopefully it was a turning point tonight for us."
1. Vazquez with a dominant ninth.
Vazquez was terrible for almost a month, drawing the ire of Ray Searage in Phoenix almost two weeks ago. Vazquez, the recipient of a four-year contract extension during the offseason, blew four of six saves and was caught tipping his pitches. He's since cleaned up his delivery and has began to throw all four of his pitches again.
It's resulted in four consecutive scoreless appearances, but this was by far his finest work of the season. "That’s as good as he’s pitched all season," Hurdle said.
Vazquez needed only 15 pitches, 11 of which were strikes, to strike out the side, beginning with a five-pitch at-bat to Ahmed Rosario. Vazquez then struck out Michael Conforto with back-to-back 100-mph fastballs before retiring Jose Bautista with a 98-mph four-seamer on the inner edge:
Entering Monday, the Pirates' bullpen had allowed only three earned runs in its previous 20 innings and posted a 1.47 ERA over its past nine games. None of it matters, though, if Vazquez isn't back to his old self. He looked as strong as ever against the Mets.
2. Time to stop blaming Polanco.
The Pirates can live with Polanco being an average major leaguer. The 26-year-old can hit for power, possesses a strong throwing arm and has the speed to wreak havoc on the bases. But they're a dangerous team when he produces. The Pirates are 17-5 when he has at least one RBI.
This was his latest contribution:
"We’re feeding off each other," Bell said. "Scratching across runs when we can. … We’re locked in. Hopefully we can continue that."
That's a 93-mph four-seam fastball down the middle from a starter who allowed eight earned runs over his previous two starts. But something can be said for hitting a pitch you're supposed to hit. The Pirates haven't done enough damage on pitches in the zone. That wasn't the case when they went 16-12 in April and nine games over .500 on May 17.
Get frustrated with Polanco all you want. It's not going to change the fact he's a flawed player. He's likely always going to be wildly inconsistent, but he's still delivered a team-high 10 home runs this season with a .757 OPS. For perspective, the league average is .722. More important, he's batted .290 with two home runs and seven RBIs since moving a few inches away from the plate June 10.
The adjustment is likely not a cure-all. Polanco's swing will always be long, and pitch selection is still an issue — he hit a pop fly to short on a first-pitch curveball to strand the bases loaded in the fifth — but he's not solely responsible for this team scuffling since May 17.
In addition to his home run, Polanco walked to lead off the fourth inning.
2. Giving away baserunners.
Bell should know better. Every baserunner is precious for this offense right now, particularly those in scoring position. So, it's difficult to imagine what he was thinking when he bolted towards third base in the fifth when Moran hit a weak ground ball to the mound.
Seth Lugo immediately threw to third base to catch Bell in a rundown. Rather than getting thrown out, Bell could have scored one batter later when Diaz dropped a single into shallow center. The league's most talented teams can get away with sloppy baseball. The Pirates can't.
They've struggled with fundamentals during their six-week slide and have now recorded 29 outs on base, which is tied for the fourth-most in the National League. They rank first in the majors in outs recorded at third base. Sure, some of those are the product of aggressive baserunning.
You can't always fault a player for trying to take an extra base. This wasn't the time for that and it nearly cost the Pirates.