Ke'Bryan Hayes knew from the scouting report on pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor and that he pulls the ball more, so he knew to anticipate a play to his right.
When he heard over the PitchCom that Colin Holderman was throwing a cutter, he moved a step closer to the third base bag.
Taylor's line drive was pulled down the third base line, just as Hayes had anticipated. And with those baseball smarts and ability, he pulled a 5-3 double-play that will go down as one of the finest defensive moments for the entire Pirate season:
"I expect myself to make every play, especially if I can get a glove on it," Hayes said. "I was lucky enough to make the play and it was a good play."
A really good play. And with that web gem kept the game tied in the ninth to set the stage for extra innings at PNC Park yet again, where the Pirates would eventually walk off the Brewers on a Matt Bush wild pitch Thursday, winning 5-4 in 10 innings and sweeping the home series.
"A full team victory," is how Derek Shelton described it. "A lot of people played a big part of it. It’s nice to come out of the deadline and play that well for three days.”
They were three comeback wins, too. Trailing 3-1 in the sixth, Tucupita Marcano and Ben Gamel lined base hits to erase another multi-run deficit in the back-half of the game, like they did the other two games of the series.
"It's huge," Gamel was telling me. "A young club battling every game and coming out on top. We're learning how to win as a group."
"Overall," Michael Chavis said. "It's just a little bit of a glimpse of what we got."
The Pirates have played the Brewers hard this season, and actually had been on a stretch of mostly close games for a while. Multiple players in the clubhouse brought up the team's record in one and two run games. Of the Pirates' last 24 games, 18 have been decided by two runs or fewer. All of their wins this series were by one or two runs, but before then, they were 4-11 in those games during this stretch.
"We’re in every single game, which should be inspiring to us and everyone who is following us," starter Zach Thompson said. "We’re right there for every single game. It’s just a matter of a couple of little extra things clicking.”
"We talked at length about one play, one thing happening," Shelton said. "Tonight it was multiple. The fact that we were able to continue to battle, even at the end... We did a nice job throughout this whole series of creating our own opportunities and our own breaks. That’s how you win close games.”
One or two plays normally determine a game. On Thursday, it was the Hayes play. And there is no way to overstate when learning as a group what a win like that does.
"We’re headed in the right direction," Hayes said. "Gotta build off this series when we go on the road for this long road stretch. We’ve got to continue to find ways to get guys on and play good defense. As long as the pitching keeps us right there, we’ll be ok."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• I asked Hayes afterwards which play he liked more, Thursday's or what he did last year to Yadier Molina. He said the Molina play because he finally got to throw off balance.
I'll agree, but this was close.
• Hayes' defensive play saved the game, but Gamel's diving catch in the 10th with the bases juiced and two outs to end the frame and spare Duane Underwood Jr. after two straight walks and hit batter put the Brewers out in front:
"If I play it back and let it hop, it's two runs," Gamel said on his mindset taking the dive. "If I dive for it and miss it, it's three."
Gamel credited that catch to the outfielder card and knowing exactly what depth to play. Chalk a good chunk of this win up to the scouting department.
• I asked Gamel about the trade rumors now that the deadline has passed, and dismissed it as just "noise."
"I'm happy, ecstatic to be back with this group of guys," Gamel said. "Happy to get the opportunity to move forward with them and win some ball games."
• Oneil Cruz continues to do Oneil Cruz things. This time, he broke his own record for the hardest-hit ball by a Pirate in the Statcast era: A 118.4 mph base hit up the middle:
one of my fav things about having Statcast data is how it has helped establish that only a VERY select few are even capable of hitting balls at certain exit velocities, thus legitimizing and capturing the absurdity of newcomers like Oneil Cruz almost immediately https://t.co/dSjojYvZBd pic.twitter.com/KKhRnD1lfN
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) August 4, 2022
The previous record was his 118.2 mph base hit in his big-league debut on Oct. 2, 2021.
Cruz has now hit the first (118.4 mph), second (113.9 mph on August 3) , third (113.8 mph July 6), fourth (112.9 mph double on June 20) and sixth (112.3 mph July 2) hardest struck balls for hits of the season for the Pirates. The only other player to crack the top five is Jack Suwinski's 112.4 mph moon shot against the Rays on June 25.
• Thompson hung a couple of cutters to Victor Caratini and Mike Brosseau, both of which left the yard. He allowed three runs over 4 1/3 innings. It was still a step closer to normal after allowing seven runs over each of his previous two starts.
"They had a lot more contact [in the last two starts] so it was nice to get some swing and miss, get some strikeouts, weak contact," Thompson said.
He allowed four hits and a walk and struck out five.
• This was the Pirates' first home sweep in almost two years, the most recent coming August 21-23 against the Brewers.
• Before the game, the Pirates placed Dillon Peters on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation -- which he started to experience when throwing his curveball Wednesday -- and Tyler Heineman on the 10-day injured list with a right groin strain.
Left-hander Eric Stout was recalled to take Peters' place -- and pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings Thursday -- and catcher Taylor Davis had his contract selected. The 40 man roster is now full.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: C Tyler Heineman (right groin strain), OF Jake Marisnick (great toe)
• 15-day injured list: RHP David Bednar (low back), LHP Dillon Peters (left elbow inflammation)
• 60-day injured list: OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Tucupita Marcano, 2B
2. Bryan Reynolds, DH
3. Ben Gamel, LF
4. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
5. Oneil Cruz, SS
6. Bligh Madris, 1B
7. Greg Allen, CF
8. Cal Mitchell, RF
9. Jason Delay, C
And for Craig Counsell's Brewers:
1. Christian Yelich, DH
2. Willy Adames, SS
3. Rowdy Tellez, 1B
4. Andrew McCutchen, LF
5. Kolten Wong, 2B
6. Hunter Renfroe, RF
7. Victor Caratini, C
8. Mike Brosseau, 3B
9. Jonathan Davis, CF
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates are heading to Baltimore to kick off a 10-game road trip with three against the Orioles. Mitch Keller (3-7, 4.37) will start game one against Dean Kremer (3-3, 3.86), with first pitch coming at 7:05 p.m. Chris Halicke will have you covered for the first leg of the trip, and I've got the west coast swing.
THE CONTENT
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