The Pirates and the Reds don't like each other.
You may recall their July 30, benches-clearing brawl in Cincinnati that resulted in six suspensions to players, as well as suspensions to the Reds' manager, David Bell, and to Clint Hurdle:
Depending on your views of such things, you either thought that incident was amazing and fun, or horrible and unfit for the sport.
Regardless, it all makes for a major storyline as the two teams come into Friday night's matchup at PNC Park. While they did finish out that game above and another game to round out the series in Cincinnati back in late July, tonight's showdown marks the first time the two teams have squared off since those resulting suspensions were handed out and served.
"I'm absolutely confident [the issue is behind us]," Hurdle said.
Then, a follow-up question.
"I'm absolutely confident that everything's resolved," Hurdle replied, this time with a cross of the legs and a light kick backward in his office chair to really hammer home the fact that he was done speaking on the subject.
So, that's that from Hurdle. Expecting to flesh the dynamic out a bit more, I headed over to the Reds' side to speak with Bell. Here's what happened with that:
Awkward. That's Reds PR shutting me down before I had a chance to finish forming my thought for Bell.
Here's the thing: I'm 100 percent certain Bell did not answer all the questions about the scrap ... because I was there the whole time. I looked forward to hearing his take on what made that particular incident different than all the others — he was nearly in tears post-game — but I guess that will forever remain a mystery.
What Bell did offer to kick off the pregame media session with Fox Sports Ohio's reporter on that subject was this:
"We are going to approach it like we have every game, because our approach every game this year is to go out and to play baseball and to win a game," Bell said. "It's really as simple as that. There [have] been times where we've been thrown at and we've had to try to defend ourselves. We've paid the price for that. That's all behind us ... Nothing else on our mind."
Believe that?
Nor do I. It's safe and scripted, and that's exactly why I wanted to get a little more. With follow-up questions getting shut down, however, that's what we got for this one, friends.
And while the quotes themselves leave plenty to be desired, the message is clear: It's done. Or ... they say it's done. Neither manager wants to talk about it, but ultimately, the first pitch will go out at 7:05 p.m. and we'll all see exactly how resolved the feelings and emotions are once the teams take the field.
So let's talk about baseball then, Mr. Bell, since my first question didn't go over so well. When Mitch Keller made his MLB debut back on May 27, it came against these Reds in Cincinnati.
So with Keller now having a bit more experience and a few moments of success at the big-league level since then, what kind of improvements and developments is Bell expecting?
I asked ...
... and the response was brutal again. It's almost like he didn't know who Keller was. Or he didn't care. Which, fair play with the Pirates' rotation this year — I get it — but I expected something besides, essentially, "Go ask somebody else."
Because on the other side, when Hurdle was asked about the Reds' hottest new face in town, Artisides Aquino, he offered this:
"We have a lot of footage," Hurdle said of Aquino, who is slashing .313/.387/.821 with 11 home runs and 23 RBIs in 75 plate appearances this year. "There's minor-league footage. There's major-league footage. You pull up spray charts, you pull up hot zones, heat maps."
He continued, speaking to Aquino's particular preferences at the plate.
"We're well aware of where he's hitting the ball hard and where he's been actually mashin' balls," Hurdle said. "So, it's a long-levered guy, it's a big guy who wants to get his swing extended. Spin in the zone, he's been on. Fastballs up, middle he's been all over. So we're well aware of the hot zones and we need to stay out of those."
Then, Hurdle even compared Aquino's minor-league footage to his major-league tape, explaining how it all factors in as they evaluate the man Keller will face Friday night.
"It [the minor-league footage] may not match from a power perspective, but he hits balls — it's kind of like spray charts," Hurdle said. "It's kind of like shifts. They hit balls where they hit balls. And he has hard contact in certain areas of the plate, and his best angle for launch is a certain position out in front of the plate. And you look at those things. So you can pretty much catch on to what they're doing.
"But it's definitely been a fireworks show since he's gotten up here, yeah."
Yeah, just slightly different than Bell's response.
