CHICAGO — The dancing had stopped and the music was barely heard inside the crowded visitor's clubhouse at Wrigley Field as Pirates players packed their belongings and headed toward the team bus to catch a flight to Miami. They had just won two out of three games against the two-time defending Central Division champion Cubs, spoiling their rival's first series at home this season and improving their record to 9-3.
It was a very business-like finish to a work day. However, the starting pitcher who ground his way through six innings and the right fielder who hit a pair of solo home runs to power the Pirates to a 6-1 victory in front of an announced crowd of 29,949 on Thursday afternoon made it clear this wasn't business as usual.
Trevor Williams, the right-handed starter who lasted only 3 2/3 innings against this team last July, said this series win could "sparkle" for fans in Pittsburgh. Gregory Polanco, still the league-leader with 15 RBIs in 12 games after hitting a pair of solo home runs in the series finale, mentioned how important winning any series is for reaching the postseason.
The Pirates are now three games ahead of the Cubs in the division and 2 1/2 ahead of the second-place Brewers. But above all else, their three games at Wrigley Field demonstrated how experience and health have led to their resurgence this season.
"It says we like to play," Clint Hurdle said of the series win. "We have some fight and it’s early. We like the direction we’re headed. We know what we have to do to win games. We don’t pay a lot of attention to experts. Experts have to do what they have to do and we have the opportunity to go play … It’s not so much about proving people wrong. It’s about proving yourself right."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGSFor months, Hurdle, Neal Huntington and players spoke of the impact both experience and health would have on the Pirates in 2018. Young players such as Williams had learned in the majors last season, struggling at times while showing promise at others. Polanco and Francisco Cervelli missed significant time with injuries.
The absence and ineffectiveness of those two negatively impacted the Pirates at the plate, in the field and on the mound. But their presence, as well as the growth of the pitching staff, has the Pirates rolling entering a three-game series against the last-place Marlins.
The Cubs (6-6) altered their lineup to force Williams to face five left-handed hitters. After all, left-handers batted .286 against him last season, but he responded with another strong outing, giving up only one run — a solo home run by lefty Kyle Schwarber in the fourth inning — on four hits with five strikeouts to one walk.
Williams, who used his changeup to keep the Cubs off his four-seam fastball and sinker, threw 60 of his 94 pitches for strikes. He used his four-seam fastball command to limit damage, including on this strikeout of Ben Zobrist, a left-hander, to strand a runner on second in the third:
"I thought Trevor pitched a very strong professional game for us," Hurdle said.
With Williams on deck, the Pirates had runners on first and third with two outs and a one-run lead in the sixth, but Hurdle opted to keep Williams in to face the heart of the Cubs' order in the bottom of the inning. It was risky considering opponents batted .287/.359/.461 during their third plate appearance against Williams last season.
After stranding the two runners in the fifth, he pitched a scoreless sixth, stranding Schwarber on second.
"It’s big. It’s our second year now together and it’s one of those things where that trust was established last year," Williams, who is now 3-0 with a 1.56 ERA, said of Hurdle's decision. "We know that going into the situation. It’s a big part of the game, it's a 2-1 ballgame at that point. I was confident I could get those guys out and thankfully Clint was confident in me as well."
The Pirates' three relievers — Michael Feliz, George Kontos and Felipe Vázquez — each pitched one scoreless inning to secure the win.
When the Pirates faced the Cubs in Williams' first start at Wrigley Field last July, John Jaso was batting fifth and both Polanco and Cervelli had already spent time on the disabled list. Their injuries lingered throughout the season, too, but they contributed in a big way this time.
Polanco hit an elevated four-seam fastball 440 feet — his longest recorded home run by Statcast since 2015 — for a solo home run in the first inning:
Adam Frazier added an opposite-field solo homer to lead off the fifth before Polanco did it again, hitting an outside fastball from left-hander Justin Wilson over the wall in left-center to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead.
It was his first multi-home run game since Aug. 23, 2016, and he now has five homers — two more than the entire Detroit Tigers roster. More impressive to Hurdle, though, was how Polanco responded after each of his three strikeouts against the Cubs Thursday.
"I’m a lot better this season," Polanco said of forgetting a bad at-bat. "I can forget it. I know I can’t do anything about the past. I have to focus on the next at-bat. Whatever happened doesn’t matter. You have to forget about it."
Cervelli, who was limited to 81 games last season because of various injuries, then added a three-run homer in the sixth for a five-run lead. The 32-year-old also tripled with one out in the second inning, and now has two home runs — one more than he did in 101 games two seasons ago — with 11 RBIs in 39 at bats. He drove in 31 runs in 265 plate appearances last season.
The Pirates scored 19 runs in the three-game series and now rank second in the majors in runs (77), third in home runs (17), second in batting average (.278), first in on-base percentage (.343) and first in slugging percentage (.479). They want more than a strong start, though.
"I’m very pleased with what we’re doing, and I think they’ll tell you the same thing," Hurdle said. "I don’t think anybody will tell you they’re satisfied."
1. Analytics don't tell the whole story with Dickerson.
Corey Dickerson went 1 for 3 with a double and two walks, and he's having success by being aggressive at the plate. He was averaging 3.13 pitches per plate appearance entering Thursday after seeing 3.96 last season, and his contact rate has increased four percent as a result.
Dickerson has hit safely in seven straight games, going 13 for 28 with six doubles, a triple, a home run and eight RBIs. He had only 20 extra-base hits in 245 at-bats during the second half of last season. Analytics paint him as a more aggressive hitter, but Dickerson said he's succeeding with the same strategy he's used throughout his career.
"It’s always been me," he said. "I’ve always been an aggressive hitter. There’s times I’ll go through a streak where I want to take pitches and when that time comes I’ll do that, but right now I’m not going to let strikes go over the plate when I know I have a good percentage to hit the ball. I stick to my same approach."
2. Cervelli finds his niche batting sixth.
When Hurdle revealed his lineup for opening day, it seemed a bit odd for Cervelli to bat sixth. After all, Colin Moran could offer more power behind Dickerson. But Hurdle's logic is sound. Cervelli sees a lot of pitches, which can wear down the starting pitcher for Moran and Jordy Mercer later in the order.
Cervelli has been outstanding in that role, as evidenced by his one-out triple in the second and his three-run homer in the seventh inning. His 4.71 pitches per plate appearance are the most in the National League. He got ahead of the count 2-0 before watching a four-seam fastball go by him low in the zone. Then, he hit the exact same pitch over the wall in left-center field:
3. Bell shows progress at first base.
Bell's defense at first base was ugly when he was recalled in 2016. However, his work with Kevin Young, as well as offseason workouts that include yoga, have made him an above-average defender at first base. According to FanGraphs, Bell recorded 6 defensive runs saved in 2017, which ranked fourth among National League first basemen.
He's shown a bit of rust at first this season, but his play in the first inning Thursday displayed how much more comfortable he is at the position. Schwarber hit a sharp grounder to Bell at first, which Bell backhanded, paced himself and made a precise throw to Mercer at second for the fielder's choice.
One batter later, Williams got Addison Russell to fly out to right to strand two runners on base.
4. Baserunning making a difference.
The Pirates were among the worst baserunning teams in Major League Baseball last season, ranking 22nd in stolen bases, as well as 21st and 23rd in 2016 and 2017, respectively, in Baseball Prospectus’ “baserunning runs” metric.
They're making an impact on the bases in 2018.
After focusing on that facet throughout spring training, the Pirates have stolen seven bases through 12 games, three by Marte and two by Dickerson. They're taking better leads and are doing a better job testing an outfielder's arm to take an extra base.
The Pirates have had a runner score from first on a double five times this season, the second-highest mark in the majors. Also, their run scoring percentage, which is the percentage of times a baserunner scores, leads the majors. They have recorded eight outs on base, but four of those were at third.
Dickerson has also had a hand in that. He stole second in the sixth inning and stretched a single into a double in the ninth by not hesitating when rounding first.
"The emphasis is on smart baserunning ... ," Hurdle said. "That's something we've struggled with in the past. It's come and gone. We've had some inconsistencies. ... There's still opportunities for us to be better. However, the mindset and buy-in has been real. It's been consistent. My focus to them has been daily. It's how we need to play to be most effective."
5. Hurdle using his bench perfectly.
Hurdle has made all the right decisions when deciding how to utilize David Freese, Sean Rodriguez and Frazier.
Josh Harrison had gone 13 for 39 with nine runs while serving as the Pirates' leadoff hitter the previous nine games, but Frazier got the start at second Thursday. He led off the third with a single before hitting a go-ahead home run in the fifth. Then, Hurdle replaced him at second base with Sean Rodriguez in a double switch late in the game.
Rodriguez, who hit a three-run homer in Wednesday's loss, made a diving catch to his left on a liner from Javier Baez in the ninth and quickly threw over to first base to compete a double play. Freese went 2 for 4 with a solo home run Wednesday, too.
"It's one of our strengths," Hurdle said of his bench. "We’re going to need everybody as we continue to go. We’ll have the opportunity to double switch sometimes mid-game and not lose a step. Freese can go to first or third. Sean can go anywhere but the mound. He still tells me he can catch, which I’m not completely sold on. Frazier’s ability to move around, as well, when he’s not in there. … It makes our team stronger and the unselfishness they carry with it also helps."
