PIRATES

After the Pirates' hitters were held in check en route to a shutout loss Monday night in Cincinnati, Jared Triolo expressed that a trickle-down effect might be needed.

"Hitting is contagious," he said. "One person does it and everybody else will start falling in line." 

Four days later, Konnor Griffin was the one to set the tone, and others followed. It was his RBI double that put the Pirates on the board in the second inning. Triolo followed with an RBI single, Henry Davis plated him with an RBI double and Oneil Cruz kept the line moving with an RBI single of his own. Four straight hits that put the Pirates ahead early and had the home crowd rocking in the home opener. 

"Konnor set the tone there and then it kinda frees everybody else up," Triolo said. "He showed us how to do it." 

It was Griffin's first big-league at-bat, but he understood the assignment after Ryan O'Hearn walked to begin the inning. He knew the job was to get him home. That was the expectation and he was determined to make it happen. 

"Being able to execute that and being the first run of the game and getting things rolling, that was the job," he said. 

He did his job and more, though. He kickstarted a surge of offense that proved to be pivotal in a one-run victory.