Jung Ho Kang isn't the worst third baseman in all of Major League Baseball. He's got Zack Cozart to thank for that.
Remember Cozart?
Used to play for the Reds?
OK, well, he's currently carrying a butterknife slash of .109/.157/.128 in Anaheim. He'd be more productive at the plate if he'd exchange the bat for a shovel and dug himself a ditch in the batter's box. And the dude's now 33 years old and plays damned near every day for some ridiculous reason.
Well, what's the justification for Jung Ho?
Kang's 32, he's been almost as bad at .152./.222/.360, and his 0-for-4 on this night left him hitless in his past 12 at-bats. He's got the four home runs, sure, but those account for a quarter of his 12 hits and, coupled with his 28 strikeouts, he's the awful epitome of an all-or-nothing hitter. Mostly nothing.
To boot ...
Oh, you bet that pun was intended.
On the first of those, Kang opened Oakland's second inning by forfeiting the free 90 feet. On the second of those, five batters later, he did pretty much the same. The Athletics would proceed to pile up five runs that inning and, as all of the two or three dozen witnesses hung around to watch, a 14-1 flogging of their Pirates on this soggy Friday night at PNC Park.
To be fair, Kang's hardly some flawed defender. To be fairer, on that second one, Joe Musgrove had no business throwing to third with Oakland having had only the runner at second base.
OK, as he'd clarify, he heard infielders shouting, "Three!" for third base before ultimately hearing Francisco Cervelli shouting, "One!" for first base, so there was some confusion. But he's got to keep a clearer head there and, more important, nothing prevents Kang from executing a professional throw across the diamond.
I asked Clint Hurdle, offering Kang some benefit of the doubt and fully expecting the same from the manager, if Kang maybe hadn't set his feet properly.
"Well, he's thrown balls away this year more than we've seen in the past," came Hurdle's surprisingly reply. "I don't know. It looked like the feet were trying to get set. Either way, one throw was way off line, and one was short. So ... he's been out there every day with everyone else doing the work. He just threw the ball away tonight."
I'd hoped to ask Kang, too. But as I approached his stall, he motioned to three nearby Korean reporters to follow him out of the locker room. No idea where he went from there, but neither he nor those reporters returned.
Whatever. That's enough. Or it should be.
Colin Moran's no star, and he's certainly no up-and-comer. But he's six years younger at 26, he's one of the four pieces from the likely unsalvageable Gerrit Cole trade, and he's batting a presentable .250/.328/.400 with three home runs of his own. That's not great, though, as he told me after this game, "I feel like my approach is getting to where I want it to be, where it was most of April. It's just a matter of finding some consistency."
For that matter, Ke'Bryan Hayes is 22 and he's coming off a superlative spring that's probably pushed him up to being the organization's No. 1 prospect, and he's not doing badly in his first month of Class AAA ball in Indianapolis at .263/.348/.404. He won't be up soon -- nor should he be -- but he's on pace for a September promotion.
So what's the point of Kang?
To give him a second chance?
Hey, he's started 21 of the first 29 games. If anyone's responsible for his blowing this opportunity or any other, it's him. He's plenty lucky the Pirates looked past his DUI offenses in South Korea, and he's even luckier they pursued every diplomatic avenue available to get him back into the United States. From this perspective, that's well more than what he was owed.
At this point, all concerned owe it to the overall process to see more of Moran, to let him seek out that "consistency" he covets. That could be primarily at third. It could be wherever, as he's also bounced around a bit of late. If he's going to be a viable bench player in the bigs -- and maybe that really is his ceiling -- he and the Pirates would benefit far more from seeing him fail than the other guy.
Look, this isn't exactly taking shape as the Summer of the Sixth World Series, right?
Clint Hurdle takes the ball from Joe Musgrove in the third inning. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPSTHE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE GOOD
Bryan Reynolds is 10 for 10. In the sixth inning, he rolled one through the left side of the infield and now has a hit in each of his 10 big-league games, and he needs one more to match Gregory Polanco's 11 in 2014 as the franchise's longest such streak since 1900. Which is awesome.
Also, no one was struck by a stadium-sized meteor.
THE BAD
Musgrove wasn't any better than Kang, through he's due a mulligan after opening the season with six starts and a 1.54 ERA. This time, he hovered up in the zone, had some lousy luck and didn't really rebound. His 2 2/3-inning line: Seven runs, five earned, six hits, two walks -- one of those with bases loaded -- and a hit batter.
What went wrong?
To hear him tell it, that was limitless:
Again, mulligan for Musgrove. He's earned it.
In immediate relief, Nick Kingham brought his usual propane to the flame, hammered again for four runs on five hits over 2 1/3 innings.
THE OTHER SIDE
The Athletics snapped a six-game losing streak in which they'd totaled 15 runs. They aren't very good, either, but they got eight RBIs from their No. 8 hitter, Josh Phegley, who'd go 4 for 5 with a solo home run, two bases-clearing doubles and a bases-loaded walk.
He's the first catcher in Oakland history with eight RBIs in a game. The only player with more, regardless of position, was Reggie Jackson with 10 on June 14, 1969.
“We needed a win, and everyone pretty much exploded offensively," Phegley would say in the visiting clubhouse. Oakland wound up with 16 hits. "I just happened to be the guy coming up in the bases-loaded spots and getting some big hits.”
He also joked, "I've been telling guys I had a good month out here today."
Here's the complete collection, courtesy of the Athletics:
✅First four-hit game of his career
✅Team record eight RBI by a catcher
✅First A's player with eight RBI since 2001
Turn it over to @MLBNetwork right now to watch Josh talk about his record-breaking night! #RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/SZmvv3yXxp
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) May 4, 2019
THE DATA
• Phegley's eight RBIs were the most by anyone against the Pirates since the Cardinals' Ken Reitz had that many June 28, 1977, in the nightcap of a doubleheader at St. Louis' old Busch Stadium.
• The 14 runs were the most allowed by the Pirates this season.
• Melky Cabrera's hitting streak was extended to nine games, in which he's gone 13 for 30.
• The Pirates' winning streak against American League teams ended at seven. They'd been 4-0 this season.
• When the Athletics scored their 11th run in the fourth inning, that matched the number of outs they'd made to that point. Save your ticket stub.
THE INJURIES
• Chris Archer, right-hander, is on the 10-day IL with right thumb inflammation. He can be activated Tuesday.
• Corey Dickerson, outfielder, is on the 10-day IL with a strained right shoulder. He's expected to resume throwing and hitting this weekend.
• Nick Burdi, relief pitcher, is on the 10-day IL with right elbow/biceps pain.
• Lonnie Chisenhall, outfielder, is on the 10-day IL with a broken right hand. His rehab assignment at Indianapolis was stopped April 27 because of left calf tightness. He has since resumed light baseball activities.
• Kevin Newman, infielder, is on the 10-day IL with a lacerated right ring finger. He's on a rehab assignment with Indianapolis.
• Jacob Stallings, catcher, is on the 10-day IL with a cervical neck strain. He's on a rehab assignment with Indianapolis.
• Jose Osuna, infielder/outfielder, is on the 10-day IL with neck discomfort. He's on a rehab assignment with Indianapolis.
• Erik Gonzalez, shortstop, is on the 60-day IL with a fractured right clavicle. He won't return until at least mid-July.
THE SCHEDULE
Second game of the series is tonight, also a 7:05 p.m. first pitch, Trevor Williams facing Chris Bassitt. John Perrotto will report, beginning with the opening of the home clubhouse at 3:35 p.m.
THE COVERAGE
All of our expanded baseball coverage, including Indy Watch by Matt Welch, Altoona Watch by Jarrod Prugar, and Mound Visit by Jason Rollison, can be found on our team page.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Pirates vs. Athletics, PNC Park, May 3, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS