Coming to bat in the bottom of the 11th, no National League player had more hits than Adam Frazier. He came into the game tied for the league lead, and after getting hits in three of his first four at-bats, he was firmly ahead of the competition.
The Pirates needed one more, though.
And he delivered:
That game-tying triple was Frazier’s fourth hit of the night. Four batters later, he scored the winning tally on a Gregory Polanco sacrifice fly to beat the Giants, 3-2, in extras at PNC Park Friday.
The game wouldn’t have gotten to that point had it not been for two key Frazier plays before it. The first was a bloop to open the bottom of the ninth, where he came home to score the tying run on a Bryan Reynolds knock.
The other was a catch at the wall in the 10th. After Derek Shelton pinch-hit Erik González in place of left fielder Ka’ai Tom to try to win in the bottom of the ninth, he went into extras without a regular outfielder to go to. Frazier was sent out there to cover the big part of the ballpark, and did it well.
“We ask him to go play left field, he makes a heck of a play on a tough ball that's hit,” Shelton said. “And he had been out there one time all year.”
To that point, Frazier had played just one inning in the outfield all season.
But the bat has been the real story for Frazier thus far. His .315 average is third in the senior circuit, with a healthy .383 on-base percentage and .456 slugging mark to support it. In a new year of the pitcher where strikeouts are becoming more and more prevalent, his 11.4% strikeout rate is the fourth-lowest among qualified hitters in the National League. Few hitters have whiffed as infrequently as he has. His 12 doubles are third in the NL.
“The biggest compliment you can give Adam Frazier is he's a baseball player," Shelton said, shortly after praising for all of the above reasons.
Or, to put it more colorfully…
“He's a hit machine, man,” Polanco said, beaming.
He’s been one dating back to the start of spring training. Back in Bradenton, Fla., he said something clicked during a conversation he had with Colin Moran. The two are constantly throwing ideas at each other, and while the infielders have been mum on what the actual change was, Frazier said it has helped his timing.
The overall approach is vintage Frazier, though.
“Just trying to scrap a couple out and be a tough out and see what happens,” Frazier said recently.
So far, that’s working.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Polanco and Shelton started discussing the situation as the inning was still going on. The Giants had lefty Caleb Baragar on the mound, and they were looking for a way to get that left-on-left matchup against Polanco with the game on the line.
So with one out, they intentionally walked both Reynolds and Will Craig to bring Polanco to the plate. The right fielder made them pay, lining a ball to center for the game-winning sacrifice fly.
"Really good swing, hit the ball hard," Shelton said. "Really nice moment for G."
Before the game, general manager Ben Cherington reaffirmed that they want to keep Polanco in their outfield mix. The right fielder has been working to try to get his timing right and give better at-bats, but that has been a work in progress.
"I've made progress with it," Polanco said. "It's just inconsistent right now. Like one day, I feel really good. I see the ball really good and I put a really good swings, and some days I miss a lot of balls. But from the opening today, I felt a lot better with my swing with myself, just my body's feeling better every day. You know, I'm just going to keep playing hard every day no matter what happens."
Polanco went 1-for-4 with a seeing-eye ground ball through the infield that turned into a double and two strikeouts.
• Miguel Yajure gave five outstanding innings in a spot start, allowing just a walk and a ground ball single.
Despite throwing only 57 pitches, Shelton kept him at a five inning limit since minor-league rotations are set up that he pitches once a week, so they viewed this outing as short rest.
Gerard has more on Yajure's night, and his future, here.
• The bullpen picked up where Yajure left off. Duane Underwood Jr. did allow a solo home run in the eighth to Brandon Crawford that just cleared the fence in right, but Sam Howard, David Bednar and Richard Rodriguez each put up zeroes to carry the struggling offense.
Luis Oviedo got the ball in the 11th, but gave up the go-ahead run on a pop fly that was out of range of the drawn-in infield. Oviedo hadn't allowed a natural base runner at that point, but because of the extra-inning rule that puts a runner at second to start the inning, he was now pitching from behind.
"To come out in that situation, runner on second, that’s the first time I ever experienced that," Oviedo said through translator Mike Gonzalez. "However, I recognized that in that situation, when that run came in, I needed to go back to my plan, focus one hitter at a time, one pitch at a time."
He did just that, working out of the jam to not allow another runner to score. With the Pirates' rally in the home half of the inning, the 21-year-old got his first big-league win.
"In all reality, I wasn’t even thinking about that," Oviedo said. "My focus was just trying to make sure that the team got the victory. I’m just so grateful that the team was able to come out with the win."
• The pitching had to carry the load Friday, as the Pirates' slumping offense, besides Frazier and Reynolds did not do much. Giants starter Kevin Gausman made a bid for a complete game, striking out a dozen. However, bloops by Frazier and Kevin Newman to lead off the ninth finally chased him.
"[It] was a heck of a game," Shelton said. "Our guys continued to battle and come back. Lot of guys stepped up."
• The Polanco walk-off celebration was briefly put on hold after the Giants tried to challenge the play. Polanco actually passed the runner on first, Craig, on the play, so the Giants wanted a rule check to see if that would make the fly ball the third out of the inning. That wasn't the case.
"You can't make an out twice," Shelton explained. "He had already made an out, an out on the catch. The umpires were right on top of it."
• Just to recap, Yajure was one of four players the Pirates got back in the Jameson Taillon trade. The others are Roansy Contreras, who is leading the minors in strikeouts (22) and is pitching lights out at Class AA, outfielder Caanan Smith-Njigba, who hit his second homer of the year for the Curve Friday, and infielder Maikol Escotto, who is hitting .370 in Bradenton. Internally, the Pirates believe the two position players have the potential to be on top 100 prospect lists, and Yajure and Contreras are two of the better pitching prospects in what is becoming one of the better farm systems in the game.
It's a promising quartet of players, and they keep in communication with each other.
"I'm constantly watching them, connecting with them. Communicating with them," Yajure said through Gonzalez. "Those are my guys. It's like a family. When we came over here from the Yankees, we recognized that we were like a family coming into a new organization, and ever since that moment, we've tried to maintain the connection and the good vibes within each other. Just supporting one another. Speaking life into one another. Watching them, Roansy Contreras, Smitty, they're doing so good down there, and I'm just really proud of them. I can't wait to see them come up soon."
• Some quick transaction news: The Reds claimed Michael Feliz off waivers before the game. The Pirates designated the right-hander for assignment Sunday to make room for outfielder Ben Gamel.
Additionally, the team signed infielder T.J. Rivera to a minor-league contract, pending a physical.
• Factoid of the game: Crawford's home run had a launch angle of 45 degrees. That's the highest out of any National League player this year. Across baseball, only Jay Bruce got more air on a homer, once hitting 46 degrees.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Kevin Newman, SS
Bryan Reynolds, CF
Will Craig, 1B
Gregory Polanco, RF
Ka'ai Tom, LF
Wilmer Difo, 3B
Michael Pérez, C
Miguel Yajure, P
And for Gabe Kapler's Giants:
Mike Tauchman, LF
Mike Yastrzemski, RF
Buster Posey, C
Brandon Belt, 1B
Evan Longoria, 3B
Brandon Crawford, SS
Wilmer Flores, 2B
Steven Duggar, CF
Kevin Guasman, P
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates and Giants will square off for the third game of the four-game set Saturday. Tyler Anderson (3-3, 3.05) will take on Johnny Cueto (2-1, 3.52), with first pitch coming at 6:35 p.m.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.