MINNEAPOLIS — Josh Harrison twice had words with home plate umpire Joe West. David Freese aired his grievances after a strikeout in the third. Francisco Cervelli yelled at West from the dugout in the sixth. Jameson Taillon was told to stay out of it.
Their gripes fell on deaf ears, and there was still angst in the visitors clubhouse at Target Field following a 5-2 loss to open a two-game series against the Twins. The Pirates, now 61-59, have split the first eight games of this nine-game trip and missed an opportunity to gain ground in a crowded playoff chase in the National League.
They finished with seven hits, only two for extra bases, and swung with reckless abandon at times after experiencing what they described as some confusion with West's strike zone. As a result, they were unable to mount a comeback, remaining eight games back in the Central Division and five back in the Wild Card.
"It happened everywhere from the bottom of the first," Harrison lamented. "I’m not one to call anybody out or put blame on anybody, because we had a chance to win the game. But when you’re out on defense and you’re consistently watching your pitchers not get pitches that are called on you and your teammates – and some pitches that are better than what’s been called – you get frustrated. At the end of the day, we all want a fair shake, man."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCOREIt didn't take long for the frustration to show, either. The Pirates scored two runs in the second, first on an RBI single by Cervelli and then a run scored on a groundout by Colin Moran, before Harrison stepped to the plate for the first time. He worked the count full before West, who has umpired 5,163 games, the third-most in Major League Baseball history, called strike three:
Harrison stopped to argue with West, asking for Taillon to get the same calls. A similar incident happened in the third inning when Freese struck out looking on a Jake Odorizzi fastball. Shortly after Freese walked back to the dugout, Taillon threw this fastball to Jake Cave on the first pitch of the third inning that was called a ball:
"From what I heard our hitters were getting pitches called on them that I wasn’t getting in return," Taillon said. "No matter what the strike zone is that day you just hope it’s consistent for both teams."
Cervelli didn't mince words after the loss. When asked about his frustration, Cervelli paused for several seconds before saying, “I’ve got a question for you guys: 'The first time, you guys see the same thing? The first time? What do you expect?' It is what it is.”
Yet, the frustration was evident until the final out. Harrison raised his arms and walked away from the dugout railing when Tyler Duffey's breaking ball low and away was called for strike two on Gregory Polanco in the sixth inning. Cervelli, standing next to Harrison, yelled over at West, "Hey!"
Taillon was forced to change his pitching plan after West did not call a strike on a low fastball to Jorge Polanco in the first inning. After all, the right-hander's thrived this season by peppering the bottom of the strike zone before rifling in fastballs high in the zone to change a batter's eye level. Not getting called strikes low in the zone can render his curveball ineffective, too.
Taillon didn't say a word, at the behest of Cervelli. “He’s a pro," Cervelli said of Taillon. "I told him before the game, I said, 'Let me handle everything because we’ve got another catcher there,' but we need him on the mound for a long time. I don’t want to get thrown out, but it’s frustrating sometimes when you don’t get what you need. It’s not sometimes what I want. It’s what I need.”
Taillon didn't blame the strike zone for him unraveling in the fourth inning. That, he said, was fastball command and failing to throw enough pitches out of the zone when getting ahead. After Taillon faced the minimum through three innings, the Twins, now 55-63 and 12 1/2 games back in the American League Central, scored three runs on five hits, including an RBI double by Jorge Polanco.
Taillon pitched through the sixth inning, striking out four with one walk, and has a 2.98 ERA in his last eight starts. He hasn't allowed more than three runs in a start since May 22. The deficit was at only one run, but the Pirates' frustrations were boiling over at the plate, as powerfully illustrated by Harrison's reaction to a called third strike in the fourth inning:
Harrison said: "Throughout the whole game, I’m at second base seeing my guys not getting the same pitches that are called on us. That’s where the frustration comes from. Consistency’s asked out of us. That’s all we ask from them. When we speak to them, they get a little upset. It’s like, man, that’s not going on the back of your card. I’m sitting here battling my butt off, I work a count and I see a pitch that I know is 100 percent a ball, and you’re shutting me down and making it seem like I’m a bad guy."
Hurdle left the dugout when the argument began and stopped near home plate, staring up at the video board above the left field bleachers while waiting for a replay of the strikeout. When one wasn't shown, Hurdle had a short conversation with West before walking back to the dugout.
"Sometimes it can be challenging, though, when you’re not sure on what’s being given," Hurdle said. "I guess comments were that it’s pretty consistent as far as what’s getting called on both sides. Joe’s been around a long time. I know one thing: agitating him doesn’t work very well, either. You just try to work with him, try to figure out what you have to work with and go from there."
Odorizzi retired 11 in a row following Cervelli's double in the second and was removed after allowing back-to-back two-out singles in the sixth. He struck out nine and walked two. However, Cervelli struck out swinging to strand both runners, and Duffey needed only eight pitches to get through the seventh. The Pirates loaded the bases in the eighth following Starling Marte's one-out double, only to strand them when Cervelli hit a pop fly to shallow right-center.
They were 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left seven on-base, including one in the ninth inning after Harrison hit a one-out single. Adeiny Hechavarria, who entered after Jordy Mercer left in the fifth inning with left calf discomfort, grounded into a double play to end the game. “It’s difficult because, hitting-wise, you’re fighting against a pitcher and you’re fighting against the guy behind the catcher," Cervelli said. "And catching is frustrating, too, because you need those pitches and those pitches are strikes. Like I said, this is the first time you see it?”
The Pirates are in the thick of a playoff race, despite having now lost 10 of their last 18 since the end of their unprecedented 11-game winning streak. The Cardinals have won seven in a row and nine of their last 10 to leapfrog them in the standings. The Rockies, another team ahead of them in the Wild Card race, have also won four in a row.
"Every game counts," Cervelli said. "Every at-bat counts. Yeah, sometimes it’s hard because you don’t know what to say. Then when you guys come with those questions, I consider myself a professional and respectful person, especially with umpires, but sometimes it’s hard to do our job."
1. Harrison shows worth at second.
Harrison's negative-4 defensive runs saved rank 18th among second basemen in the majors with at least 600 innings played this season, which is a steep regression from last season, when he ranked fourth in the majors in the statistic. There's no logical explanation for the regression, either. After all, he missed only 15 games with a fracture in his left hand earlier this season.
Yet, Harrison has still shown why he's a capable defender at second base, not just a utility man. The 31-year-old made a spectacular play in the sixth inning following a leadoff single. Max Kepler attempted to steal second, and Cervelli's throw was a few feet to the right of the bag, forcing Harrison to extend to make the catch and apply the tag with a swipe to get the first out of the inning:
“Once I was able to read the throw, once I jumped, I’ve been blessed with pretty long arms," Harrison said. "I had a feeling when it was up the line a little bit. I knew if he was to do a slide, feet-first, guys are never flat like a head-first slide, so I just slapped the tag. Just trying to get an out.”
2. Polanco slumping again.
Gregory's Polanco's encountered a slump at the worst possible time. He has just five hits in his last 42 at-bats with 17 strikeouts in 13 games this month. This after he slashed .301/.353/.645 with eight home runs and 18 RBIs in 24 games last month. Pitchers are no longer attacking Polanco on the inner half. They tried to continue doing that after Polanco moved a few inches further from the plate in June, and he responded with his best six-week stretch in over two years.
Instead, they're throwing him breaking balls away to get ahead in the count, followed by elevated fastballs out of the zone to get him to chase. He struck out looking at a splitter low and away in the sixth, swinging at a curveball low and away in the third, and swinging on a fastball up and in to end the first. The Pirates can't afford for the slump to continue much longer.
Polanco, Marte and Corey Dickerson are batting a combined .160 with 36 strikeouts this month.
"Oh, yeah, I can't get a fastball," Polanco said. "It's all breaking stuff away."
3. A case for keeping three catchers.
The roster may reshuffle before the club returns to Pittsburgh. With Cervelli back in the lineup, Hurdle is unlikely to want to carry three catchers. He may want an eighth bullpen arm or another bench bat for the series finale against the Twins.
Any roster move may not be worth the risk, though. The Pirates would not be able to recall Jacob Stallings from Triple-A within 10 days unless someone on the big-league roster goes on the disabled list. There's no telling what could happen with Cervelli between now and Aug. 25. His removal in Saturday's win left the Pirates with no alternative in the event Elias Diaz was either injured or removed from the game.
There's not a glaring need on this roster, or a worthy player at Triple-A, that would merit the Pirates taking such a risk. Rosters expand at the end of the month, and everyone should be well-rested following the off-day. They would be better-suited sending Michael Feliz back down if another reliever is needed. However, Hurdle's comments pregame made it sound like a decision is looming.