ST. LOUIS -- These Pirates have looked lousy since the All-Star break. They’ve even looked lethargic, for the first time all summer.
They haven’t quit.
Not individually. Not collectively.
It was one outcome out of 162, the 3-1 ninth-inning capper over the Cardinals on this Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, and it's seldom worth magnifying any game beyond the math. The cold fact is, a loss in the Wednesday matinee series finale, and all concerned will fly back to Pittsburgh with a 1-5 trip, and faces as long as their odds against real contention in the Central.
As Clint Hurdle flatly summarized, "It was a good game for our team. We'd just lost four in a row, and we stayed the course."
And yet, it was more.
Hurdle's first four starters out of the All-Star break had been beaten, the final three very badly. So when Dario Agrazal took the ball for his fourth start in a Major League Baseball career that had been so wholly unanticipated that the Pirates had cut him from their 40-man roster in January, he undoubtedly did so with the awareness that, if he'd have flopped, they'd all have flopped the first time through the rotation.
He didn't. This poised-way-beyond-his-24-years rookie came through with a line of six-plus innings, one run and five hits. It wasn't all smooth. He struck out nobody, he walked three, he escaped the bases loaded in the second, he couldn't control the running game, and he was pulled with men at the corners and no outs in the seventh.
But it got done.
And, per what's already seen as customary within the clubhouse, he kept the same expression throughout.
I had to ask: Where'd that originate?
"The only thing I can think of is that I've matured a lot," he replied through interpreter Mike Gonzalez. "Every time I take the mound, I just think that it's another game. I've learned how to control my mind. I feel like, right now, no matter what the situation might be, going out there with that mentality, that I'm just going to be myself ... that's allowed me to remain humble."
So will the travails on this night, for sure. Because once Hurdle took the ball and passed it on to Richard Rodriguez for the seventh -- again, runners at the corners, nobody out -- any warm and fuzzy looked like it was about to be blown to bits.
As Agrazal would tell me with a slight smile, "I was pulling for Richard very hard."
Yeah, well, that's not really necessary these days. Rodriguez made his 19th consecutive scoreless appearance his most climactic, getting Matt Wieters to bounce into a forceout, Harrison Bader to pop up and Jose Martinez to roll to second:
"I was so happy," Agrazal recalled.
For Rodriguez, who also was once cut from a 40-man by the Orioles in 2017, then demoted by the Pirates to Class AAA Indianapolis two months ago after huge early struggles, it was continuing vindication.
Not of himself, but of Hurdle.
"“Honestly, I regained my confidence because of him,” Rodriguez would say, retelling the tale he shared with me earlier in the month about Hurdle's relentless faith, as well as that of his teammates. “I believe that I'm Richard Rodriguez again because of him.”
Those two pitchers clearly aren't quitting. Not in life. Not on the season.
And even though Hurdle himself had expressed slight concern here Monday afternoon over his team's general energy level, even though there's been some oddly erratic outfield play from Corey Dickerson, even though there'd been some dubious baserunning, I hadn't detected a trace of actual quit from any quarter. Players were visibly agitated. They were fidgeting from station to station in pregame prep. And, as became clear Tuesday, when one of their own was exposed for a lack of effort, even though Marte's one of their fixtures, he apparently got quite the earful from Hurdle and teammates alike.
That's not a group in quit mode. And knowing these players, this manager and his staff, that's not in the offing. They might not achieve what they want, but it won't be because they didn't leave it all out there.
Dickerson, working through whatever's afflicting him defensively, doubled and scored on Kevin Newman's single in the fifth.
Francisco Liriano, rebounding from a challenging month and change, put together a 1-2-3 eighth for his third consecutive scoreless appearance.
Josh Bell, now just 3 for 19 out of the break, singled authoritatively in the ninth to send Starling Marte, who'd been plunked after one out, to third base. That set the stage for the decisive rally.
"Finally," Bell would tell me of the single. "I knew when I flied out the at-bat before I'd be fine. Stayed inside the ball."
Just like he did on that single, ripping it the other way.
Never doubt his drive.
The offense as a unit snapped a 19-inning drought with that run in the fifth, and the clawing felt necessary to the end.
Colin Moran contributed this infield single that Kolten Wong could have handled better ...
... but the primary objective in that situation is to put the ball in play, and that contact plus that extraordinary headfirst slide were plenty for Marte to plate the winner.
Mega-gutsy call on our live feed, by the way:
Colin Moran's about to win this game. #DKPS #Pirates
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) July 17, 2019
It wasn't exactly a smash off the wall, but it seemed to be appreciated all the more for that reason alone. Hurdle singled out Moran for "a big moment for us." And when Moran was done with media interviews afterward, Jeff Banister, the venerable special assistant working with the team on this trip, pulled him aside for a personal set of accolades, the kind only a baseball lifer can offer. Even through that red beard that had been showered off from that slide, it was easy to see Moran turning that much redder.
Newman then nearly hit into a 6-4-3, but Paul Goldschmidt couldn't pick the relay from the dirt at first. Another run was across, and Newman, too, had busted it down all 90 feet of chalk. That made it 3-1.
Felipe Vazquez came on for his first save situation with so much apparent fire that one of his fastballs flamed up at 101 mph, which is about as much adversity as he can encounter anymore.
What was that?
"I do that maybe two times all year," Vazquez told me, grinning. "It doesn't affect me."
It does to pitchers of far lesser poise, but he'd still put forth the requisite 1-2-3 inning with two punchouts.
None of us can know where this team's headed or what they'd have to do to prompt this passive-by-default front office from adding, never mind avoiding selling valuable assets like the guy I just mentioned. But it couldn't be clearer, now that this four-day flail's done, that they'll do so with chins up and eyes wide.
• I didn't intentionally omit Marte. He hasn't quit, either -- as he powerfully illustrated at a couple key points of this game -- although it sure as heck can appear that way at times. But he's a special case, and he'll be the subject of a full column running Friday based on a couple conversations I've had out here.
• Oh, and why didn't Marte take first base when home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman gave it to him in the fourth inning? That one deserved its own separate piece.
• Same goes for the questions I asked Hurdle and Marte early in the day about the latter's latest baserunning lapse.
• The Cardinals' rally in the seventh fizzled to the point that their manager, Mike Schildt, complained to reporters down the hall, "That’s clearly frustrating. You’ve got first and third and nobody out, and you can’t get a ball out of the infield. Obviously, guys are giving the effort, but we’ve got to execute there."
• Some in the always-knowledgeable crowd here -- one totally sloshed dude near the press box in particular -- took vocal issue with Dexter Fowler, who led off the inning by reaching third on a double/error, being held there on the popup to Bell. I didn’t and, infinitely more important, neither did anyone on the Pirates' side. Bell told me he had a perfect angle, roughly 30 feet away from first base and not far into foul territory, that he wouldn't have had to rocket the ball to Elias Diaz.
• Wong blew it on both of the Pirates' run-scoring plays in the ninth, first with the muff on Moran’s sharp grounder, then the low throw on Newman. Monday night, he'd been magnificent.
"That's how it goes sometimes," Wong told reporters down the hall, adding that Moran's ball could have been a double play. "When I caught the ball, I tried to turn around and make a good throw and, unfortunately, couldn't get a grasp of it.”
• Jameson Taillon threw off flat ground in the Busch Stadium outfield Wednesday afternoon. No issues. No setback. Second time he's done that. He also threw five tosses off a mound for the first time, but those weren't pitches, and he remains in a flat-ground program. Even so, there's virtually zero chance he'll be built back to a starter's pitch count.
• Steven Brault threw again, as well. No issues for him, either. He's in a regular groove now. This team needs to buy itself some more time. The hitting will come back. The pitching needs help.
• Meanwhile, down in Bradenton, Chad Kuhl made his first throws since Tommy John surgery, as he gleefully posted on his Instagram account. That's a huge milestone for those guys. Good for him. Terrific kid.
• One more Wednesday, and everyone's flying home for a day off.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Francisco Cervelli (7-day IL, concussion)
• Steven Brault (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Gregory Polanco (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Rookie Davis (10-day IL, forearm)
• Jameson Taillon (60-day IL, elbow)
• Keone Kela (60-day IL, shoulder)
• Erik Gonzalez (60-day IL hamstring)
• Lonnie Chisenhall (60-day IL, direct deposit)
Here's the most recent full report.
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates and Cardinals conclude their three-game series Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. Eastern. The clubhouse opens at 9:45 a.m., and Hurdle will speak after the game. After this, I'm flying home.
THE COVERAGE
All our expanded baseball coverage, including Indy Watch by Matt Welch, Altoona Watch by Jarrod Prugar, and Mound Visit by Jason Rollison, can be found on our team page.
