MINNEAPOLIS -- The difference between the Pirates’ first two road trips of the season has been night and day.
In their first two series of the season, the Pirates dropped five of six, which included a three game sweep at the hands of the Reds, who outscored them 30-8.
Derek Shelton summed up that series against the Reds at the end with a simple, "We’re definitely ready to get out of Cincinnati."
This road trip has been a complete 180. They took two of three against the first-place Brewers to start, and then picked up another series win against the Tigers to follow. That marks four straight series where the Pirates won two games.
They’re heading into Target Field Friday with a 9-10 record. Another series win would send them back to Pittsburgh with at least a .500 record.
On Friday, Shelton cited some things that have gone right this trip -- situational hitting, strong bullpen performances -- but really stressed the fundamentals.
“If you guys go back and remember in those games [in Cincinnati], we didn't run the bases very well, we gave away outs defensively,” Shelton said. “On this trip, we've caught the ball, we’ve run the bases better and overall we've just played better baseball.”
Early success isn’t guaranteed to carry over for the whole season, but for a team that is looking to get better this season, that’s seemed to happen this month.
MORE PREGAME NOTES
• Shelton said Ke’Bryan Hayes’ left wrist has been reevaluated in Pittsburgh and that he is "doing better.”
Hayes was expected to rejoin the team this road trip, but after two snow outs of a potential rehab game with the alternate site team, Hayes went to Detroit and aggravated his original injury during batting practice off a high velocity machine.
The Pirates will get a better look at him after they return to Pittsburgh after this series.
• Erik González has heated up during this road trip, which included a pair of RBIs in Thursday’s win over the Tigers. Meanwhile, Kevin Newman has slumped since the end of spring training, and is slashing just .177/.215/.210.
The Hayes injury and the outfield shuttling has created playing time for González, but Shelton said it’s important for Newman to get reps too.
“I think he's made some adjustments in his swing that are gonna be extremely helpful,” Shelton said. “We just got to make sure that we help him work his way out of this.
• Shelton fired another shot in the ongoing antics between himself and his close friend, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli.
Some quick background: Shelton has a running joke that Baldelli has been named baseball’s most handsome manager, twice. And you know what, that just needs to be commemorated on a shirt:
Shelton and the entire coaching staff wore that for warm ups Friday.
“He wanted to play reindeer games at the end of spring training, thinking that he had the last laugh with the shark thing,” Shelton said.
The shark video in question:
Another round of @roccodbaldelli and @derekshelton communicating through the scoreboard...#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/wHvDKaZ9Ia
— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) March 30, 2021
As of publication, Baldelli hasn’t fired back, but it seems inevitable.
“I’m sure I’ll get hammered the last two days, but I would say we’d all agree that this one is pretty good.”
