DENVER -- The Pirates' clubhouse was on fire.
A 9-4 win — this following an 11-8 victory Thursday, mind you — will have that effect. After the Pirates dusted the Rockies for the second time in as many nights on this 85-degree stunner of a Friday at Coors Field, Starling Marte danced out of the hallway. Danced. Phone blaring, all smiles and groove, he scooted past our small media session with Melky Cabrera, giggling like he was on his way to snag a cone of rocky road after the big game.
Think Cabrera noticed?
Great, right? It gets better. Cabrera, ever the stoic and lowkey veteran presence in this locker room, got it together and continued talking about his night. The Pirates scored nine to run their total to an even 20 in two games here in Denver, and Cabrera contributed three of them Friday with this absolute rip in the fifth:
Low-and-inside turned into back-and-gone in a hurry. With that, Cabrera is now batting .400 (20 for 50) with five doubles, four homers and 15 RBIs over his last 13 games in this moon-like atmosphere. Cabrera, however, doing that whole stoic and lowkey thing I mentioned earlier, had only this to say:
"[I don't] know how [I] hit that ball," Cabrera told us through tonight's translator, bullpen catcher Heberto Andrade. "I'm glad it was a home run and we won the game ... [I] just hit the ball [I was] thrown. Good contact."
No offense, Mr. Cabrera, but these answers could use a little more spice. They're safe and humble and — oh, no. The music is back. Here comes Marte, fresh off a dance party in the corner. He bounced around with Pablo Reyes and Erik Gonzalez before making his way back to the cameras, shuffling all the way.
I'll let Cabrera's face do the talking again — only this time with sound because you have to hear Marte:
These dudes were feeling it tonight.
It's not just back-to-back wins. It's six wins in the last eight, that run stretching back to a three-game sweep of the Reds from Aug. 23 - 25. It's the type of stuff this club flat-out needed.
"Overall, the pitching has gotten better," Clint Hurdle began in his postgame interview. "We've played solid defense. We haven't given away many outs, and we started swinging the bats."
Yep, that uhh ... That's how you win baseball games, alright. And while the box score tilts in the away team's favor, this win and the energy that came with it signified something more. The season is a wash. This 58-77, last-place squad isn't making the postseason. On Sept. 29, the Pirates' 2019 campaign is a wrap.
But tonight, Friday, Aug. 30, at Coors Field? That doesn't matter. It's drowned out by horns, by drums and by cackling laughter cutting across the clubhouse floor. It's drowned out by the smack of high-fives and back-pats as the players head out for the evening.
You can think the team has "quit on Hurdle" or they've stopped caring or there's no spark or any number of things. You can think all that ... and you'd be wrong.
Winning cures all.
Especially for a team that hasn't tasted it too much this year.
• Dario Agrazal made his first start in a no-gravity environment today. The first batter he faced, Trevor Story, did this:
And then ... Agrazal settled down, notching the win and a final line of five-plus innings pitched, nine hits, three earned runs, zero walks and two strikeouts.
"He's going to pitch to contact," Hurdle was saying of Agrazal. "At the end of the day, this park can cause you problems when you're always pitching to contact, but the mix got in a really consistent spot ... He gave us a very blue-collar effort to get into the sixth."
Agrazal admitted Coors Field presented a unique challenge for him, but he didn't modify his approach to accommodate it.
"He said that it is really different to pitch in here, however, on his mind, on his plan, he was thinking it was not a different ballpark," Andrade relayed for Agrazal. "He prepared himself mentally, physically, doing the plan that he was told with Ray Searage ... He's happy that everything went well."
He also had a sac-fly RBI, capping off his all-around solid outing.
• For the sixth straight game, the Pirates' bullpen allowed a home run. This time, it was Francisco Liriano serving one up to Ian Desmond, who ripped it 454 feet dead center. Watch this one. And yeah, again with sound, because you gotta hear the crack of the bat and the commentator's call:
Six straight games. Ten total home runs during that stretch. That's ... not good.
• That said, the bullpen as a whole performed tonight. Really, it was just Liriano looking a little shaky. Check out the rest of the lines:
Richard Rodriguez: One inning, two strikeouts cleaning up for Agrazal.
Keone Kela: One inning, two strikeouts.
Geoff Hartlieb: One inning, three strikeouts.
"He's got really good stuff," Hurdle was saying of Kela specifically. "He was in a really good rhythm. He had to spend some time away, he's come back, [and] we've tried to keep him on some type of routine."
And therein lies the Kela conundrum. His stuff is electric ... when he pitches. But he's missed time this season for both suspensions — yes, plural — and injury. He's also gotten "violently ill" mid-game and couldn't take the mound when needed as a result. It's been a weird, frustrating season from all angles for Kela.
But a night like tonight reminds what can be with him.
• Kevin Newman and Bryan Reynolds, the team's dynamic rookie duo at the top of the lineup, each went 2 for 5 tonight, with Reynolds sprinkling in an RBI for good measure. After Newman's two-home-run, four-hit explosion Thursday in the series opener, tonight only further solidified just how special these two have been and can be for the club moving forward.
"The combination, I still kind of chuckle. It's two rookies at the top that are fueling it," Hurdle said.
• Colin Moran just keeps quietly driving in runs. With another RBI tonight, he's now at 75 on the year.
• Hey, it's not like Marte was just basking in his teammates' success. He had plenty to celebrate himself, going 3 for 4 with four runs — tied for his career-high in that category.
• Reynolds Watch: With his night and an 0-for-5 flop from Jeff McNeil, Reynolds moves back into third place in the National League. Reynolds sits at .329, McNeil at .326. Anthony Rendon (.333) and Christian Yelich (.331) round out the top two.
• The Pirates are now batting .245 with the bases loaded, 23 for 94 on the year. They had an opportunity in the sixth tonight, Frazier to bat, no outs, and hit into a double play. So it goes.
• It was Stranger Things night here, which resulted in some pretty hilarious onscreen graphics:
It’s Stranger Things night here, by the way. #dkps #pirates pic.twitter.com/VJoouFxUmz
— Hunter Alek Homistek (@HunterAHomistek) August 31, 2019
Interestingly enough, this Pirates season has taken place in the Upside Down.
• Tonight's attendance: 27,789
• Time of game: 3 hours, 18 minutes (includes 16-minute lightning delay)
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Chris Archer (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Clay Holmes (10-day IL, quadriceps)
• Gregory Polanco (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Chris Stratton (10-day IL, right side inflammation)
• Yefry Ramirez (10-day IL, right calf strain)
• Lonnie Chisenhall (60-day IL, caught in a stranglehold)
Here's the most recent full report.
THE SCHEDULE
I'm back at it Saturday, a half-hour earlier than the past two — 8:10 p.m. ET first pitch — here at Coors Field. It'll be Joe Musgrove against Tim Melville in that one.
THE COVERAGE
All our baseball content, including Mound Visit by Jason Rollison, Indy Watch by Matt Welch, and Altoona Watch by Jarrod Prugar, can be found on our Pirates page.
