CINCINNATI — Jameson Taillon just wanted to get the ball on the ground. So, the Pirates' starter showed bunt, lifted his bat up at the sight of Tyler Mahle's fastball and pounded the ball into the wet infield grass at Great American Ball Park.
While Reds first baseman Adam Duvall collected the ball to Mahle's left and threw over to Scooter Gennett at first, Josh Bell scored from third for the second run of the fourth inning. The squeeze bunt, Clint Hurdle would say afterwards, was a snapshot of how the Pirates won six in a row leading into the All-Star break.
Like they did one week earlier, the Pirates moved runners over, played sound defense, pitched well and received contributions throughout the order — Sean Rodriguez hit a three-run homer in his return and Starling Marte hit a grand slam — as they opened the second half with a 12-1 rout of the Reds following a two-hour, 55-minute rain delay Friday night.
The Pirates (49-49), back at .500 for the first time since June 18, have won seven straight and nine of their last 10. They're eight games back of the first-place Cubs and continued their gradual climb by following the basic tenets of baseball.
"It just seems like every night someone else is doing it," Taillon said. "We’ve had good starting pitching. That carried us a little bit through the homestand, then we had timely hitting. The bullpen has been pitching well. … It seems like we’re getting help from everywhere. Tonight there was just no give from our lineup."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOTaillon, making his 20th start, struck out six and walked one over 5 1/3 innings. His only run allowed came in the sixth when Jesse Winker doubled off the wall in right-center to score Gennett. From there, three relievers — Richard Rodriguez, Michael Feliz and Steven Brault — combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
Meanwhile, the Pirates had 16 hits — at least one by seven different players — including four by Colin Moran and three apiece by Sean Rodriguez and Elias Diaz. Rodriguez, activated from the 10-day disabled list Friday afternoon, snapped an 0-for-17 skid with his first three-hit and four-RBI game since Aug. 14, 2016. The 33-year-old singled in the fourth and eighth innings, walked in the ninth, and his three-run homer to the second deck in left gave the Pirates a 5-0 lead in the sixth:
"I was able to, definitely able to, get a lot of what I was working on and get it to work out there," Rodriguez said. "I was able to get good pitches to hit and put them in play."
Corey Dickerson homered for a second consecutive game, Gregory Polanco tripled and later scored on Diaz's RBI single in the seventh, and Marte extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games with a one-out double in the third and his second career grand slam in the eighth. The Pirates scored at least one run in four of the five innings where they had the leadoff batter reach safely.
"It was everybody that was playing well," Jordy Mercer said. "Everybody chipped in to do their thing. That’s a sign of what a good team is. It’s a sign of a team that has confidence, has the cohesiveness and is playing well at the right time."
The All-Star break seemed to come at an inopportune time for the Pirates since four days off could potentially disrupt any momentum gained from a five-game sweep of the Brewers. After all, it posed a challenge for the Pirates during their 98-win season in 2015. They won 13 of 16 before the break, capped by back-to-back extra-inning walk-off wins over the Cardinals, only to lose five of six following the All-Star Game.
The Reds (43-54), winners in 21 of their last 31 before the break, posed a particular matchup problem given their potent lineup and flourishing young staff. Taillon, though, silenced their offense, retiring the side in the first and stranding two on base in the second and third innings. He allowed a leadoff single in the fourth, only to strike out three in a row, including Adam Duvall with a knee-buckling curveball for the first out.
Taillon, who threw 68 of his 100 pitches for strikes, then retired the side in order before his leadoff walk in the sixth led to a run when Winker doubled off the wall. Although he was removed following the run-scoring hit, the Pirates' starters have a 2.80 ERA with 67 strikeouts to 15 walks over their last eight starts. Also, the bullpen has a 2.08 ERA in that span.
The Reds were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. Taillon has a 3.02 ERA with 55 strikeouts and 14 walks in his past nine starts. He stranded three runners in scoring position — including one in the third by striking out Gennett with a high fastball inside — and he allowed only one extra-base hit. His work at the plate, though, was also impactful.
Rather than not wanting to be the starter to break the streak, Taillon's goal was to build on what he accomplished in recent starts:
Following Moran's first single and a walk by Bell, Rodriguez rolled a single through the left side for a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. With runners on first and third, Taillon did what other pitchers on the staff have struggled to do all season:
"I got the bunt sign," Taillon said. "I was surprised they weren’t crashing a little bit harder, in which case I would have pulled back and slashed. I thought they gave me some room over there and I got a good bunt down. He threw a good pitch I was able to get the bunt down on."
Hurdle said the bunt was an example of the type of plays that helped the Pirates win six in a row last week: "That was one of them for sure. We just kept going up and taking our at-bats, working. He was able to get the bunt down to the right side. Bell made an excellent read."
The Pirates poured on from there. Rodriguez's three-run homer followed Moran and Bell reaching to lead off the sixth. Dickerson hit a solo homer to right later in the sixth — his second in as many games and eighth this season.
Marte belted his second career grand slam on this 1-2 fastball in the eighth:
That was Marte's 14th home run of the season, and he's now batting .381 this month. Polanco is batting .325 over his last 25 games, and the Pirates' offense has batted .277 with 53 runs over its past 10 games. It resulted in their first seven-game winning streak since 2016, and they'll go for their third consecutive series win Saturday at 7:10 pm.
With the digital clock in his office reading 1:45, Hurdle was succinct with his postgame comments, but he was still beaming after watching what his roster did following a longer-than-expected break.
"We did a lot of good things on offense tonight as far as seeing pitches, working some offensive counts and hitting the ball hard where it was pitched," he said.
1. More is needed from Moran.
The Pirates need more out of Moran. The 25-year-old third baseman was acquired as part of the Gerrit Cole trade and has encountered quite the slump in July. Entering Friday, the lefty was batting .225 with a .512 OPS since July 2, having only one extra-base hit in that span. That's dropped his season slash line to a respectable .264/.337/.404. He's capable of more, though.
Moran tied a career high with four hits Friday, and he lined out to right in the seventh inning. He hit a career-high 18 home runs for the Astros' Triple-A affiliate last season, but he's hit only eight in 89 games this season. The Bucs don't need him to hit for power.
With Marte, Polanco and Bell starting to produce, the Pirates simply need Moran to be a competent defender while getting on base more often. Over the past two weeks, Moran seems to have simplified his approach at the plate again, staying behind the ball and driving it to the opposite field.
To ensure he stays within that approach, Moran pauses following each pitch, stepping a foot out of the batter's box to collect his thoughts. The Reds' radio broadcasters dragged out Mike Hargrove's old nickname for Moran, "the human rain delay," but those methodical at-bats paid off again.
"There were a number of guys that did well, but he came out swinging," Hurdle said of Moran.
2. Polanco made a fine defensive play.
As pitchers filed into a meeting with Ray Searage Friday afternoon, Mercer was describing to me how important the All-Star break is every year. Mercer, who played 140 or more games in three of his previous four seasons, needs to unplug from baseball for a few days. He's not the only one.
Ivan Nova typically refuses to watch the All-Star Game because he doesn't want to think about the sport during his break. Polanco is different, though. He posted videos on Instagram Wednesday of him taking batting practice at a field in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.
He posted a similar video one day later. Anything to remain fresh after a strong finish to the first half. Polanco homered in three of his final four games before the break and had hit safely in 15 of his last 18, batting .313 with seven home runs and 17 RBIs in that span. His bat didn't make much of an impact Friday, though. Instead, Polanco made an impressive catch in a wet outfield.
With two outs in the first, Taillon hung a curveball to Gennett, who lined a ball to right through the rain. Polanco tracked the ball, stopped and made a leaping catch at the warning track to rob Gennett of extra bases. As I wrote in my midseason analysis piece over the break, the outfield has been the strength of this team.
That continued with another fine play by a guy many fans wanted to give up on not long ago.
3. Starting Rodriguez made little sense ... but hey, it worked.
Josh Harrison, who suffered a hamstring injury in Sunday's come-from-behind win over the Brewers, ran sprints on the field before the game Friday and was not put in the lineup after being evaluated by the team's medical staff. It didn't look like he was going to play either way, especially with rain in the forecast.
The Pirates will always err on the side of caution with soft-tissue injuries; however, one could argue it should have been Max Moroff, not Rodriguez, starting at second base. After all, they need to determine whether or not Moroff is part of their future. It's already clear Rodriguez isn't. The 33-year-old is a free agent following this season.
Rodriguez entered Friday with only 39 hits in 249 at-bats since returning to the field last July. That's not a slump. It's a calendar year of poor performance. He was batting just .145 with 46 strikeouts and 117 at-bats this season. The Pirates recalled him from Triple-A despite him having only nine hits in 36 at-bats with Indy. Plus, he committed four errors in his 12 rehab games.
This is yet another reason why we should all think twice before questioning lineup decisions. Managers have their reasons, and Hurdle has done a much better job of deploying his bench than he did last season.
"It was a very strong outing tonight," Hurdle said. "Strong performance. He’s put the ball in play. He barreled balls up. ... I don’t think you could have drawn it up any better for him coming out, but we have to keep playing. He has to keep playing and see where he goes with it. Really happy for him and the work he put in."