PIRATES

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Konnor Griffin dives for a ball hit off the bat of Curtis Mead in the third inning of Sunday's game at Nationals Park.

Brandon Lowe described Konnor Griffin quite perfectly after the 20-year-old shortstop used every tool in his toolbox to help guide the Pirates to an 11-5 win, and a series victory, over the Nationals here today at Nationals Park. 

"He's not just sitting on one thing," the veteran second baseman said. "He's not just a hitter or just a glove, he's got it all going on." 

Griffin took pleasure in being able to "showcase" all of his skills in this one. He displayed his speed with a fourth-inning stolen base to become the fastest Pirate to 20 steals -- in 59 games -- to begin a career in the Modern Era (since 1901), he showed off the glove with two sensational catches and then delivered at the plate, coming through in a bases-loaded situation to put the Pirates up for good with one swing of the bat in the eighth:

"I just thought about how I went through that situation twice yesterday and wasn't able to produce anything from it," said a motivated Griffin, who is batting .306 with three RBIs and five runs scored since being reinstated from the injured list on June 26. "I kind of changed my approach to come up big for the team, just stay short to the ball, and it ended up working out good for us.” 

Griffin displayed a fearless approach with his play here today, and not only against Brad Lord in that late seven-pitch at-bat, one in which Griffin fell behind and fouled off some tough pitches before eventually getting a 97.5 mph fastball on the inner half and sending it into right field. 

He showed aggressiveness on the basepaths and proved that he isn't afraid to put his body on the line to make plays in the field, too. In the middle innings, he made, not one ... 

..., but two diving plays to back up his pitchers and record outs when the Pirates needed them most: 

Both plays were equally impressive, but what stood out about the second one was that it came after Griffin had his hand examined in the dugout by head athletic trainer Luke Novosel. On his first catch, Griffin battled the sun, had to adjust and landed rather forcefully, leaving some doubt as to whether or not he would remain in the game. He stayed in, and admitted that he wasn't thinking about the hand as he raced over toward shallow left field and dove to corral a CJ Abrams pop up. Griffin was simply determined to make something happen and help his team win in any way possible. 

"I'm not thinking about anything there, just go make a play," Griffin said. "As professional athletes we're supposed to lay our bodies out there every day, and that's what I was doing."