SAN DIEGO -- Yeah, the Pirates tried it again. Might have pulled it off, too.
Remember Colin Moran getting all of that grand slam in the PNC Park opener April 2, then getting all that grief as he approached home plate because the guy hardly ever smiles?
If not, here's a Matt Sunday photo to remind:
Yeah, that was a Francisco Cervelli gem. Great stuff.
Well, the sequel wound up almost as fun.
Sunday afternoon at Petco Park, in the Pirates' 7-5 victory over the Padres, Moran, a rookie in status only at this stage, stepped to the plate in the fifth inning with bases loaded, with his team down a run, with Jameson Taillon struggling, with the other team's starter fresh off the finest month of his career, and he did this:
There it went, Tyson Ross' 1-0 cutter/slider/whatever that never really cut/slid/whatevered, high into the California sky and out into the seats above right field, a no-doubter right off the bat.
Kind of like the player himself.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOGive credit where due: The Gerrit Cole trade could have combusted in Neal Huntington's face countless times over, especially with Cole achieving an otherworldly new level in Houston, currently 9-2 with a 2.50 ERA and 151 Ks. But the return has already brought highly encouraging pitching from Joe Musgrove, as well as Moran ascending almost instantly into one of the roster's most dependable hitters.
Assuming the GM was under the gun to dump Cole's money -- always a safe assumption in this poisoned environment -- it appears in the early going that he's fared well.
But give even more credit to Moran: He's 25 years old, he'd logged 16 whole big-league games before this season, and he's slashing .271/.349/.431 with eight home runs, 12 doubles and 33 RBIs.
Oh, and he's carrying the cleanup spot, in case no one's noticed. Clint Hurdle assigned him that duty a couple weeks ago to cut a slumping Josh Bell a bit of a break. Which spoke volumes then, even more so now that Moran's dozen games at cleanup have already seen him bat .271 with three home runs and eight RBIs.
Even with the rise of the prodigious 19-year-old Juan Soto in Washington, Moran's been among the best of his peers ...
... and, of course, he has no peers with two slams. Not contemporary, anyway. The only other rookie in the Pirates' 132-year history with two slams in the same season was Wally Westlake in 1947.
"He hunts pitches," Hurdle began when asked about that. "He's confident when he goes to the plate, regardless of what's happened before. I think he's got a short memory, and that's valuable in baseball. But he also prepares. He's ready for those situations."
He then grinned.
"I mean, two grand slams in a year? Some players don't get that in their whole career, and he's got two as a rookie."
Which brings us back to the smile thing.
What did Moran see on the slam?
"I think it was a cutter. But I don't know."
Why does he seem unfazed in such settings?
"Uh, honestly, I was just trying to get the ball in play, keep the runners moving. And then, luckily, you know, I got 'em in."
What about the victory, the Pirates' fourth in six games on this trip?
"Good win for us."
That's him. That's totally him. That's the Moran most sweetly summarized by this terrific meme tweet from the folks at the Pittsburgh Clothing Company:
The many faces of Colin Moran pic.twitter.com/XkspeZJgqQ
— Pittsburgh Clothing Co. (@PGHClothingCo) April 6, 2018
That's also what his manager, coaches and teammates seem to like most about him, accepting and embracing him for who he is.
Which is why, after this slam, rather than the Cervelli forced smile, Josh Harrison, whose personality is the polar opposite in every conceivable way, went for the friendly tug of the long red beard to attempt his own smile extraction:
I asked Moran if the operation was a success, and I came perilously close to getting another smile, but be warned that one blink misses it:
Told you.