Kovacevic: Without Bell's barrel, no bullets ☕️ taken at PNC Park (DK'S GRIND)

Josh Bell takes off his batting gloves after a strikeout Sunday at PNC Park. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

In the event of a building fire, Josh Bell's the one anyone would want heading the evacuation. He's as easygoing as it gets, cool and comfortable, and he's that way in part because he's equally in complete command of any situation. He studies. He processes. He knows the route.

That's why I never really worry about the guy. Even through a dozen home runs in 2018, he came equipped with all of the above. He knew what was wrong. He knew how to fix it. And in his ever-churning mind, from there, it was a matter of following the right route.

Well, I'm at least a little worried now.

Not because he went 0 for 4 in the Pirates' 2-1, 11-inning loss to the Phillies on this particular Sunday at PNC Park.

Not even because he's now 4 for 29 since the All-Star break, with one extra-base hit -- a double -- and a .138/.265/.172 slash line, contributing painfully to the team's 2-7 trudge in that time.

No, it's more because of how he looked after this latest stinker.

When he'd laced a single Tuesday night in St. Louis, shortly after a solidly struck out, he beamed to me in the Busch Stadium clubhouse, “Finally. I knew when I flied out the at-bat before I’d be fine. Stayed inside the ball.”

But after this one ...

Don't skip that video. Watch it. It's not the same, simply reading a transcription.

"Yeah, it's tough," the man spoke. "It's been a tough go after the break. Tough not squaring balls up as much. I felt like even the month before that wasn't all that good. So I'm just trying to turn some things around, continue to work, continue to sell out to a plan and, hopefully, things turn around."

It's beyond silly to blame the Home Run Derby, as Bell didn't advance past the first round. Besides, as he indicated, there also was a .208/.316/.448 May.

Still, I had to ask.

"Yeah, but if you look at my numbers before the Derby, they weren't too pretty, either," he replied. "I'm just trying to turn things around and do what I can to help the team win."

I've got no flies on the office walls of Rick Eckstein and Jacob Cruz, but it doesn't require hitting coach expertise to see what's off about Bell: Those two prioritize, above all else, swinging only into a hot zone, a highly specific area that's targeted against each opposing pitcher in each game. If the pitch isn't in that zone, lay off. If it is, swing with belligerence.

This, in stark contrast, was Bell's entire four-pitch at-bat in the ninth inning Sunday against Philadelphia sinker specialist Hector Neris:

Oh. No.

Neris is having an OK summer, with a 1.19 WHIP and a 55/16 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But that up there is four strikes on four of the same pitch arriving in almost precisely the same spot. And that spot is the hot zone for absolutely no one who's ever played ball, requiring the lunge of a longboat fisherman.

There's no question he needs to rediscover his peak-level discipline. If that means making a few more outs to achieve it, so be it.

• If it couldn't be overstated how much Bell was carrying the offense the first two months, then let this resonate: Since the break, the Pirates have a .639 team OPS -- on-base plus slugging percentage, a catch-all metric -- and only 25 runs through the nine games. That OPS is the lowest in all of Major League Baseball, and the runs are second-fewest to the Mariners' 24.

As Adam Frazier told me, "It feels like barrels are few and far between for everybody right now."

“We just haven’t been able to get that traction we like,” Clint Hurdle said. “We're not getting a string of hits outside that we’ve seen in the past, the consecutive good at-bats, some extra-base hits, a home run here and there. None of that’s really happened.”

• Yeah, no matter the pitcher. The Phillies' starter, lefty Drew Smyly, entered 1-5 with an 8.42 ERA. Sunday, he'd hold the Pirates to one run on four hits over six innings, striking out eight. And later, he'd draw so much praise on the Philadelphia side for an electric curveball that manager Gabe Kapler remarked to reporters on that side, "Some of us were like, 'He kind of looks like Cliff Lee out there.’”

• Agrazal, the latest Rene Gayo signing out of Latin America to bail out the North American drafting/developing, made his fourth consecutive six-inning quality start -- one run, three hits, five Ks, two walks -- out of five total in the majors, and he's lowered his ERA to 2.25. And it's not like he's taken advantage of patsies. His past four opponents: Astros, Brewers, Cardinals, Phillies.

Neal Huntington spoke candidly before the game about getting "lucky" no team claimed Agrazal when the Pirates designated him for assignment in January. That allowed Agrazal to get to Class AAA Indianapolis and work his way up.

“He took it as a challenge, and he answered the bell with ferocity,” Huntington said. “He wants to show us we made a mistake in taking him off the roster.”

• Huntington also spoke about the July 31 trade deadline, notably Felipe Vazquez's future. I wrote a separate column on that.

• Hurdle made a questionable decision having Kevin Newman bunt in the 10th inning. I wrote a separate column on that, too.

• The winning stroke was Rhys Hopkins' 11th-inning bleacher shot off Chris Stratton:

For Hopkins, it was the first home run in 73 plate appearances, a nutty run for a cleanup hitter, prompting both the double-fist-pump rounding first and the following sigh of relief: “Sometimes you need a reminder that you can do it, you can still do it.”

For Stratton, it was a shame, as he'd shown terrific control through his two innings -- 31 pitches, 22 strikes -- but that bender missed Elias Diaz's low/outside target by a good bit.

"I had him set up to go away. Just didn't execute my pitch," Stratton told me. "That's all it takes when you've got the power hitters up. You'll take a single. You'll take a walk. But you can't take that."

The pitch is all anyone will remember, but Stratton's quietly been OK.

• Might not have been anything more upbeat on the day than Kyle Crick ripping 1-2-3 through the eighth -- two skied popups and a Bryce Harper broken-bat lineout -- amid 10 total pitches. Half of those were balls, which has been his core problem, but all concerned will take it.

"Past couple times out, I've felt like I've been close," Crick told me. "I'm happy with where I'm at, but you know ... I'll talk to you again after I get a few more zeroes under my belt."

He smiled. Elegant way to end an interview that might have raised expectations before that's merited.

• I've watched baseball intently my whole life and, like most, played it as a kid. Never had I noticed what the player in the on-deck circle does when there are bases loaded, two outs in a walkoff situation, so I feel compelled to share.

Diaz was up in that situation in the ninth. Frazier was on deck ... with no bat. Because, really, why would he need one? There's literally no circumstance in which he'd bat that inning. Even if Diaz had to leave the game for whatever reason in the middle of the at-bat, his spot in the order would have to be taken by someone else since Frazier was already in the official lineup.

Which still begs the question: Why was Frazier in the circle at all?

Took me a while, but I got that, too. He might be of assistance to the runner at third in letting him know if/when to slide.

Right?

"Yeah," he answered. "I'm there just in case they need help."

OK, but what help? It's 90 feet. Game's on the line. No reason to not slide on anything close.

"Yeah, maybe it's a wild pitch. If the ball's in front of you, maybe you need to know where to slide."

Wait. On a wild pitch, the catcher is in wild pursuit. Wouldn't he risk interfering with that?

"Interfering is fine."

I gave up.

• Seeing Philadelphians phlooding PNC Park -- and Downtown hotels and businesses -- all weekend should serve as a powerful reminder about how silly and outdated Major League Baseball's divisional alignment remains. And yes, that includes the mostly meaningless existences of National League and American League distinctions. The Pirates and Phillies belong in the same division. Or, at the least, a real rival should be assigned in interleague play — such as the Indians.

Don't ask me which team that inconveniences. Move other teams that aren't 133 years old.

• The Cardinals are next. And while 25 men in black and gold take the field Monday for the next challenge, Lonnie Chisenhall, still chilling at his home in the Carolinas, will prop his feet up on the recliner, pop open a cold one and keep collecting $2.75 million of Bob Nutting's hard-inherited cash to not play baseball or even rehab with the team.

Why is this being permitted?

"Yeah, Lonnie's had a tough year," Huntington spoke to that subject Sunday. "He had a broken hand late in spring training, then, when he was rehabbing, the calves flared up, and he's continued to have some discomfort in the calves."

You know, the worst calf injury in human history. So severe that modern medicine could either collectively shrug or consider populating Venus to escape its clutches.

I digress.

"It's something we've talked about with Lonnie," Huntington continued referring to the in-home rehab. "If it were a Tommy John surgery or shoulder surgery, we'd absolutely want the player with an affiliate or even with the major-league club. But this is calves, so it's mostly rest with some elements of rehab. So we're proceeding at working from home at this time."

Forget 'Hard Knocks.' I want 'The Life of Lonnie' for my reality TV.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

Pirates vs. Phillies, PNC Park, July 21, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

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