NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Ke’Bryan Hayes was thinking two as soon as he hit it.
His line drive through the infield was going to split the outfielders in left-center, but it looked like a standard single. Hayes was thinking of more.
“We always preach hard turns around first whenever you’re going, and we were up 3-0 in Spring training, so I said, ‘Might as well try,’ ” Hayes said.
That hard turn was the right call. Atlanta left fielder Marcell Ozuna didn’t charge the ball, his throw was a little off, and Hayes was able to slide in headfirst with a third-inning double.
It was one of many good baserunning plays the Pirates made in their 10-1 win over the Braves at Cool Today Park Tuesday.
In the first, Hayes and Adam Frazier executed a perfect hit-and-run, with Hayes smacking a ball through the spot the second baseman vacated. A bobble by Ozuna in the second let Phillip Evans and Erik Gonzalez both take an extra base. With runners on the corners later that inning, Anthony Alford broke for second on a pitch that bounced just a few feet out in front of the catcher, and beat the throw.
The Pirates won handily Tuesday, but they created extra runs on the basepaths, something they didn’t really do in 2020.
In his offseason reflection of his first year as a manager, one of Derek Shelton’s main takeaways was with the running game. He thought the club could be more aggressive, not just in steals, but in hit-and-runs and trying to take extra bases. Shelton said that the Pirates had to be more conservative, in part, because they were often trailing by several runs, and they could not risk giving away extra outs on the basepaths in those games.
The problems extended beyond that, though.
The Pirates stole just 16 bases, the third-fewest in baseball. Baseball Reference keeps track of how often a team takes an extra base on a hit -- going from first to third on a single, first to home on a double, etc. -- and the Pirates did so just 37% of the time, the sixth-lowest rate in baseball. FanGraphs measured the team at -2.3 baserunning runs.
“We did as well as we could last year, under the circumstances,” first base coach Tarrik Brock said. “Having a full spring training this year with no break in it will definitely help us out.”
In addition to coaching first, Brock is also the outfield coordinator and oversees the team’s baserunning.
This isn’t Brock’s first turn as a first base coach, also doing so for the Marlins and Padres. During those stops, those clubs were consistently among the best baserunning teams in the league. It’s part of the reason why the Pirates targeted him while building a staff last year.
But as Brock said, the challenges of the pandemic, not to mention having to devote energy towards teaching Cole Tucker how to play the outfield, made it difficult to make strides in that area last season.
In his introduction in November, John Baker, the director of coaching and player development, said he would like to see the Pirates transition a bit back to old-school baseball. Not in that they were going to rebuke the new data and information that has come, but be less reliant on the home run and more on creating runs in other ways, including on the basepaths. It would be a departure for a Pirates team that has generally struggled in that area for years.
So can they turn it around in 2021?
Brock thinks so, but he’s not the one who needs to be convinced.
“I’m always pushing to run, but the one thing we have to do as base stealers is we have to earn the trust of our manager,” Brock said. “Know the situation, make sure we’re putting ourselves in the best situation for the guys coming up behind us and not running just because we’re fast. That’s the biggest thing. Once we show that consistently, we’ll be able to open up and run more and use that as part of our game, whether it’s hit-and-runs, or run-and-hits or just straight steals. I think we have the speed and athleticism to do that.”
In addition to speed and athleticism, there’s the scouting aspect. As Hayes pointed out, you’re not always going to be able to steal a base, so being able to read balls in the dirt, going from first-to-third on base hits and knowing who is in the outfield and how strong their arm is are all factors they need to keep track of, too.
“You always have to do your homework,” Hayes said. “Whether a guy is moving to his right or left or toward the hole, you might go first-to-third, little things like that, those types of things add up.”
The signs are starting to show. For example, one note on Kevin Newman was that he did not take a big lead off third base. In the second inning of the game Sunday, third base coach Joey Cora drew a line in the sand with his finger, showing him how far he should go. Shortly after, a pitch squirted away from the catcher and Newman beat the play at home. Had he not taken those few extra feet to start, he likely would have been out.
It was, as Shelton called it, “old school.” It may be part of the new wave for the Pirates.
“We always preach, one through nine, use your weapons,” Hayes said. “You might walk. Try to find ways to get that extra 90. I think we’re doing a really good job with it this spring.”
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Pirates came an out away from spring training glory Tuesday, almost throwing a combined no-hitter.
With two outs in the ninth, Phillip Ervin went with a Nick Mears fastball and blooped it into right, ending the bid. Mears would later balk home the Braves’ only run of the inning.
Steven Brault made the start, and after striking out the side in the first, he had to work around three walks in his second frame. Brault has talked about last year he had a mentality change, shifting his focus from his mechanics to just being competitive out there, and felt he got away from that.
"I think it got better as the inning went on,” Brault said. “Didn’t go my way, but that happens sometimes. I felt better. It was just getting back to where I need to go.”
• Miguel Yajure followed Brault and frustrated some of the Braves’ best hitters in his two innings. Ronald Acuna Jr. was fooled and cracked a towering pop up in his at-bat, and Ozuna walked back to the dugout before the umpire called strike three on him.
Chris Stratton and Edgar Santana both followed with 1-2-3 innings with a strikeout each. Sam Howard threw a clean frame and Sean Poppen worked around a walk to toss a hitless eighth.
• Not to be lost on the good baserunning and no-hit bid, the bats stayed white-hot Tuesday. The best performance came in the top of the second, when Braves exercised the 20 pitch rule to end the inning after failing to get the Pirates out. Alford beat out an RBI infield single that inning, and Joe Hudson doubled home a pair.
Hudson went 2-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs in the game.
Hunter Owen and Troy Stokes Jr. both hit their first home runs of the spring in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively.
Adam Frazier and Erik Gonzalez both went 3-for-3 with a run scored. Gonzalez also drove in a run. Frazier started at second, marking the first time he played the field this spring after being slowed down with a groin injury back at Pirate City.
• A couple tidbits on dates: After recording 15 hits Sunday, the Pirates added 17 Tuesday. The last time they had at least 15 hits in back-to-back games was March 18-19, 2017.
The last team to no-hit an opponent in spring training was the Angels on March 24, 2017. The Pirates have not pitched a spring no-hitter since at least when GameDay started keeping track of records in 2006.
• In case you aren’t paying attention, Hayes has been on absolute fire this spring. He’s recorded an extra-base hit in each of his five games played, and he went 2 for 2 with a walk Tuesday.
Overall, he is 7 for 14 with two walks and 13 total bases this spring.
“I feel really good up there right now,” Hayes said. “I’m seeing the ball good, being aggressive and all the things I was doing last year. So just continuing to work on the things that I work on day in and day out, with my routine and as far as that stuff.”
• OK, the Pirates did make one out on the basepaths Tuesday.
With two outs and two on in the fourth, Jacob Stallings blooped a ball down the right field line for a double. Right fielder Abraham Almonte thought he had a play at second and tried to get Stallings there, but the throw was off line and went passed third and up the left field line.
Stallings got back up and rounded third, but by that point the Braves had fielded it cleanly and got the relay to home. Stallings went from a sprint to a jog as he approached home and was tagged out.
“That was hilarious,” Hayes said, who got to watch the play develop from behind home plate since he had scored. “It looked like he had nothing left. I was dying laughing when he was coming home.”
• The Pirates now have a 2.91 team ERA, the best in the Grapefruit League.
They also have turned eight double-plays, including one in the second inning Tuesday.
"I think it’s just from communicating in practice and then just figuring out where to position ourselves," Hayes said when asked about the Pirates' newfound proficiency on turning two.
• Before the game, Geoff Hartlieb talked about the changes coaching style between the previous regime and Oscar Marin.
“I didn’t know what was expected of me coming up through the system,” Hartlieb said about his upbringing through the minors. “I’d get to spring training, and I’d be working on a cutter, changeup or four-seamer, trying to have multiple things to go to battle with."
Hartlieb took a big step in his development last year, simplifying his repertoire to just a sinker and slider, which allowed his arm slot and release point to move closer together. All told, despite starting the year at the alternate site, Hartlieb became one of the best relievers last year, pitching to a 3.63 ERA and stranding 16 of the 18 runners he inherited.
“All anybody can ask for is direction and an exact clarification on what they want from us," Hartlieb said. "I feel like I finally really got that and was able to just kind of build on that and roll with it and just embrace sinker-slider. … I’m feeling really good about it right now.”
• Wednesday will be the first spring night game for the Pirates, taking on the Yankees in Tampa. First pitch will be 6:35 p.m..
Tyler Anderson will make the start, followed by Michael Feliz -- who will see his first game action this spring -- Richard Rodriguez, David Bednar, Hartlieb, Blake Cederlind and Braeden Ogle.