Rookies spark big inning, show they can play 'winning baseball' together taken at PNC Park (Pirates)

ROB TRINGALI / GETTY

Henry Davis rounds first after a seventh-inning RBI single Wednesday.

Henry Davis and Nick Gonzales spent plenty of time this offseason together. The two former first-round picks live just five minutes apart during the winter months -- Gonzales in Palmetto, Fla. and Davis on the other side of the Bradenton area -- and the two would often meet up at Pirate City to train together.

That's what makes seeing a hit like Gonzales' first home run Tuesday night so special for Davis. In fact, watching Gonzales' first home run meant more to Davis than when he hit his first.

"[We] spent a lot of time working through stuff after the year didn't go the way we wanted to last season," Davis said. "And seeing that moment in the big-leagues, that's what we talked about every time in the cage."

How about another moment Wednesday night at PNC Park? Or a string of moments, actually. Clinging to a tight lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, Gonzales opened the frame with an infield single. The Pirates would end up batting around in the order for the first time since May 19 that inning, and it was Davis who dealt the final blow with a bases loaded hit past a drawn-in infield:

That five-run rally gave the Pirates all the insurance they needed to coast to a 7-1 win over the Padres, clinching a series win to close out the month of June. It was another month where the Pirates were inconsistent at best on offense and failed to routinely produce with runners in scoring position. On Thursday, they had five straight hitters reach base safely with a man on second or third.

"It's just about getting the next man up," Davis said. "That's winning baseball."

Winning baseball. That's been hard to come by in June, as it was in May. Back-to-back wins makes up just a fraction of a stretch of 12 losses in 13 games from the two weeks prior.

Some of that swoon the last two months has been because of injuries. The Pirates were dealt another blow Wednesday when they determined Ke'Bryan Hayes' lower back didn't respond the way they wanted it to after swinging in a cage Tuesday, so they placed him on the injured list. He joined Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Colin Holderman, Vince Velasquez, Ji-Man Choi and a half-dozen other Pirates who are currently shelved.

So up comes Jared Triolo, and in comes the rookie's first major-league hit:

"They say the first is the hardest, right?" Triolo said, all smiles after a long day that started with him making the drive from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh.

Triolo doesn't have the first-round pedigree like Gonzales or Davis, but he has steadily risen through the system and has a minor-league Gold Glove on his resume. If the Pirates are going to be down an elite fielder, they have a pretty good substitute for the hot corner.

"It’s the next-man-up mentality," Mitch Keller, who tossed six strong innings in the win, said. "We can’t be worried about who’s not here and who’s not available. We need to worry about who we have for that day. I think everyone is capable of stepping up and performing, and they’ve shown that in the past."

That includes the rookies, who are anchoring the team at the moment. Eight of the team's 26 active players are rookies. Four of them played a key role in Wednesday's win: Davis, Gonzales, Triolo and Carmen Mlodzinski, who protected a one-run lead with a scoreless top of the seventh.

If it wasn't for a couple of run-scoring bloops by Josh Palacios and Connor Joe, that seventh inning -- one of the best single innings of the month for the team -- was almost entirely sparked by rookies.

"Since Ben [Cherington] got here, we’ve talked about the lifeblood of our organization is going to be our system," Derek Shelton said. "So the fact that we’re able to back-fill, we have a very young roster in terms of experience. For these guys to come yup and contribute and do what they’re doing is extremely important for us."

For years, those types of conversations about the players coming to the system have been focused on the future. That's still the case, but it doesn't seem so far off anymore. On a hazy Summer evening, there was an inning's worth of proof.

And they aren't letting the fact they are rookies be an excuse for why they can't contribute now.

"The game doesn't care how old you are," Davis said. "The game doesn't care who you are, what you did before, what you did yesterday, what you did today. The game does not care. Prepare the best we can, play the best we can, and on nights like tonight where we execute, good things happen."

Good things, like Gonzales and Triolo getting on the board in back-to-back nights.

"I was more excited for him that I was for mine," Gonzales would tell me about his spring training roommate.

That was the common theme in the clubhouse Wednesday. There have been plenty of "firsts" to go around of late, whether it's a hit or a home run or a strikeout. Routinely it's the other rookies who are cheering harder for their teammates more than they are savoring their own accomplishments.

That has to be good news for the culture of the team, if nothing else.

"You live vicariously through your teammates," Davis said. "I think I'm more nervous when I come out than I am in the game because you have time to process it. Watching Jared hit tonight, I've seen Jared take a lot of swings in the cage, a lot of ground balls a lot of times in the minor leagues and knowing it goes much deeper than that. So there's much his family has put into this. So much coaches have, teammates have. Seeing it all culminate in just getting to watch him have a normal at-bat, that's who you look for.

"You play for your teammates and they're your best friends. So moments like that, mean the world to all of us."

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore 
• 
Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
Scoreboard

THE HIGHLIGHTS

"    "

THE INJURIES

10-day injured list: 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (lower back), OF Bryan Reynolds (lower back)

15-day injured list: LHP Jose Hernandez (calf), RHP Colin Holderman (wrist), LHP Rob Zastryzny (forearm), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)

• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), 1B Ji-Man Choi (Achilles), RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Connor Joe, LF
2. Andrew McCutchen
, DH
3. Henry Davis
, RF
4. Carlos Santana
, 1B
5. Rodolfo Castro
, 2B
6. Nick Gonzales
, SS
7. Jack Suwinski
, CF
8. Jared Triolo
, 3B
9. Austin Hedges
, C

And for Bob Melvin's Padres:

1. Ha-Seong Kim, 2B
2. Fernando Tatis Jr.
, RF
3. Juan Soto
, LF
4. Manny Machado
, 3B
5. Xander Bogaerts
, SS
6. Jake Cronenworth
, 1B
7. Gary Sánchez
, C
8. Matt Carpenter
, DH
9. Trent Grisham
, CF

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates will go for the sweep Thursday afternoon at 12:35 p.m. when Luis Ortiz (2-3, 3.74) takes on Joe Musgrove (6-2, 3.88). DK will have you covered.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE CONTENT

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