Sidelined with his left wrist injury, all Ke’Bryan Hayes could do was watch as Bryan Reynolds and Adam Frazier were raking, but the Pirates weren't scoring enough.
The rookie with sky-high expectations was supposed to be batting between the two potential All-Stars, but had been sidelined since the second game of the season after a bad swing.
Things have been going pretty well since they got the band back together Thursday.
“What they're doing is pretty special,” Hayes said. “So to be right there in the middle of it is fun. Fun for us.”
That top of the order had plenty of fun Friday night, with Frazier, Hayes and Reynolds each collecting multiple hits and a combined six RBIs in the Pirates’ 9-2 win over the Marlins at PNC Park.
For a team that ranks either near or at the bottom in most offensive categories -- including runs (107, 29th overall), homers (39, 30th) and OPS (.655, 29th) -- they now boast one of the best top threes in any order in baseball.
Let’s do a quick look at their resumes:
Frazier: .338/.402/.479 slash line. Leading baseball in hits with 72 and doubles with 19.
Hayes: .378 batting average with seven home runs through the first 28 games of his career.
Reynolds: Slashing .292./.389/.503 with eight home runs, 16 doubles and 27 RBIs.
“Yeah, that's pretty good protection with those two hitting behind me,” Frazier said.
There’s no weak link up top, but there used to be one in the No. 2 spot when Hayes was gone. Derek Shelton cycled through different hitters in the two-hole in his absence, but none of them worked.
“When you get a guy that we penciled in to hit second back, it kinda changes and lengthens us out,” Shelton said. “The first two nights of Key being back, I think we've seen that."
The Pirates got contributions throughout their entire lineup Friday, but Hayes helped spark them up top, leading the way as the Pirates scored a season-high nine runs.
“It’s nice when he’s hitting in front of me, because he’s usually on base at second or third,” Reynolds said.
There was an example of that scenario Thursday when Hayes was driven in from third after a triple on a Reynolds ground ball.
On Friday, Hayes just put the ball over the wall instead:
After being fooled and chasing a Cody Poteet slider in the dirt the pitch before, Hayes was ready for that hanger. He aims for the center field batter’s eye while swinging, and sent that pitch 413 feet straight in that direction.
“I was just telling myself, 'Got to see it up,' and I happened to get that same pitch up in the zone and I was able to put a good swing on it,” he said.
Their real damage came in the sixth, when the trio kept building off one another and strung together three straight run-scoring hits to put the game out of reach. Jacob Stallings later capped the rally with a two-run single to left, the 12th hit of the night for the Pirates.
“We all had it going,” Frazier said.
Hayes is stealing the spotlight because of his return, but Frazier and Reynolds have been consistent all year.
Frazier adopted some new hitting cues this year, and the notoriously slow starter is on as good a run as he’s had in the majors, even if his game flies in the face of today’s three-true-outcome league.
“It’s very gratifying to watch it because he grinds through every at bat,” Shelton said in Kansas City earlier this week. “The game has changed to where guys just sit and try to bang and hit the ball out of the ballpark… The thing about Fraz is he picks his times where he’s going to try to jump ship and hit the ball on the pull side.”
Shelton has said throughout the year that this team won’t hit the most home runs, but Reynolds has shown that they can come in spurts. Over his last eight games, he’s gone yard four times.
“Just trying to put the barrel on the ball, stick to my approach the last few games and some of them have gone out,” Reynolds said.
Before Thursday’s game, Reynolds lamented to Stallings that it felt like the only hits he has been getting lately are home runs. Stallings asked what’s wrong with that.
Reynolds admitted nothing, but he didn’t know if it was sustainable. Shelton isn’t worried about that.
“I think that Bryan is going to be one of those guys that their homer numbers can fluctuate,” Shelton said. “And it's going to fluctuate between the balls that he hit that travel and extra three feet or four feet that are homers or they stay as doubles. He's going to hit the ball hard and have extra-base hits.”
With more men on base in front of him, those extra-base hits are going to lead to more runs.
That had been the main problem with the Pirates’ offense this year. It’s one thing to not hit homers. It’s another to not create enough run scoring opportunities, or to fail in those spots. The last few days, the Pirates have been getting those key hits.
“We had been lacking that,” Shelton said. “It's one of those things that [when] you start to get them, you really start to see runs continue to mount up, and we've done a nice job.”
MORE FROM THE GAME
• We didn't get a full outing to see if Mitch Keller could get that elusive second consecutive good start. He exited after two innings due to what the club called "heat illness."
"He just got overheated and didn't feel well and just didn't feel like he can continue to go from where he was at," Shelton said. "Just made the decision after looking at him in the second, and he just didn't look good, so we got him out."
Keller pitched a pair of frames allowed two runs on a bases loaded double in the second. He struck out two and walked three.
• The bullpen stepped in and gave seven shutout innings to carry the load.
"Great night by our bullpen," Shelton said. "Really came in and stepped up."
After two frames from Duane Underwood Jr. and four outs from Chasen Shreve, Shelton double-switched to get Chris Stratton into the game. While he didn't envision Stratton taking it the rest of the way, the veteran right-hander ended up pitching the final 3 2/3 innings and earning his second career save.
Stratton is a rare four-pitch reliever, and he and Stallings were able to use those different offerings to their advantage.
"When you get down like that in a baseball game, everyone is trying to do some damage, so I think it kind of helped with some early outs and helped me go a little bit deeper," Stratton said.
The Pirates haven't shied away from using Underwood, Stratton and Clay Holmes in both long relief and leverage situations. Stratton thinks that is a strength of this bullpen.
"We feel like any guy can throw in any situation. We’ve got [Kyle] Crick for the eighth and obviously Rich Rod for the ninth, but anyone can throw in leverage situations. So we’re really confident in our group that we can go out and get outs at any time."
• Colin Moran and Phillip Evans' rehab in Indianapolis is going well, per Shelton during the pregame. Moran doubled and drove in four runs while playing first base in game one of a double-header, and Evans appeared as a pinch-hitter and roped a hit.
While Shelton gave a 7-to-10 day timetable for their return to the majors on Monday, there isn't a firm date set yet for when their first game back will be.
"I think it's more day to day, and that's why the conversations with them are where they're at," Shelton said. "Neither one of them have played a full [nine-inning] game yet.
• Factoid of the night: The last Pirates pitcher to record at least 11 outs in a save was Jason Christiansen on July 17, 1998, when he pitched the last four innings of a 5-1 win against the Expos.
THE ESSENTIALS
Box score
Video Highlights
Scoreboard
Standings
Statistics
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
Bryan Reynolds, CF
Gregory Polanco, RF
Jacob Stallings, C
Ka'ai Tom, LF
Kevin Newman, SS
Erik Gonzalez, 1B
Mitch Keller, P
And for Don Mattingly's Marlins:
Jose Devers, 2B
Starling Marte, CF
Jesus Aguilar, 1B
Garrett Cooper, RF
Adam Duvall, LF
Jazz Chisholm Jr., SS
Sandy León, C
Jon Berti, 3B
Cody Poteet, P
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will try to make it three in a row Saturday. Chase De Jong (0-0, 1.80) will set out to prove his first start back in the majors was no fluke. The Marlins will counter with a serious rookie of the year contender, Trevor Rogers (6-3, 1.87). First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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