DENVER -- In the grand scheme of the second inning Monday, Carlos Santana's hustle didn't have much impact.
In terms of it being a message, well, it's one of the reasons why Santana was brought in as a free agent. It sets the pace for the rest of the team. Because if the 37-year-old first baseman who is suiting up for his 1,800th major-league game is going to bust it down the line to beat a double play to make sure the team tacks on one more run in a big inning, they should too.
"We try to work hard, play hard, every game," Santana would tell me afterwards. "It's a free RBI if I try to be safe."
Santana was the last of the Pirates' starters to pick up an RBI or score a run Monday in what would end up being a 14-3 torching of the Rockies at Coors Field. Results wise, it didn't matter to anyone besides Santana and the back of his baseball card. But for a young club off to a good start, it's indicative to how they want to play.
"I think it says so much about him as a professional," Derek Shelton said. "There's a reason why we wanted him in our clubhouse, and it stands out."
The pace for the game had been set well before Santana's fielder's choice. After Andrew McCutchen got the team on the board with a solo shot in the first, Mark Mathias, Austin Hedges, Ke'Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds would all pick up RBI hits before the Pirates made their first out in the second inning against Rockies ace Kyle Freeland and his sub-1.00 ERA, with Ji Hwan Bae sprinkling in a successful safety squeeze for good measure.
But even amid a hit parade, Shelton admitted he didn't get a lot of time to think it was fun. Coors park is the ultimate hitter's park and the bullpen was short that day after back-to-back extra-inning games against the Cardinals this weekend. It wasn't time to let off the gas pedal, something Santana's hustle demonstrated and the rest of the team followed suit.
"Throughout the entire game, we did not give up an at-bat," Shelton said. "I think that says something to the growth of our team and how we're getting better."
Rich Hill would go six innings of one-run ball. The team stayed aggressive on the base paths and took extra bags. The defense would turn three double-plays, including one by Ke'Bryan Hayes with the bases loaded in the first and a diving pick and throw by Mathias at second.
For Mathias in particular, a four-hit performance was probably needed. Shelton called him into his office on Sunday to give him a pep talk and not try to do too much at the plate. Mathias, who was 1-for-15 in the majors entering Monday, took that to heart, and didn't press. His first career four-hit night lengthened innings and helped the bottom half of the lineup pull their weight.
"It gave me a sense of pressure off my shoulders and gave me a sense of [being] relaxed," Mathias said. "To have the skip say, 'hey, you can hit' and give you that kind of confidence helped me out a lot."
Perhaps the Pirates were due for some good luck. Plenty of hard hit balls found gloves during the weekend series against the Cardinals, costing them a potential series win. Going by Baseball Savant's expected stats (in this case wOBA), the Pirates had the fifth worst difference between their actual results and what they project their results to be based on batted ball data, walks and strikeouts.
So they continued to pile on, ranging from more RBI knocks by Santana, Reynolds and Hayes to Jack Suwinski launching a 461-foot home run in the ninth.
"We're taking it one game at a time," Santana said. "It's a long season. I know it's hard. But we have good energy, the [mentality] is good. We never change. We have to keep playing like this, and then we'll see what happens later."
It's just building off of the expectations this team had from the beginning of the year: Get better.
"Coming into camp, we liked what we had," Hayes said. "The expectation was to win. Each and every day, we’re trying to play as hard as we can each and every day doing the little things, attacking the zone on the pitching side, making all the routine defensive plays, then having good at-bats. Since the beginning of the season, we’ve been doing that even the first few days whenever we lost. Each and every day we find good things that we’re doing, and we just wanna build off of that."
"We feel comfortable right now," Santana said.
GETTY
Andrew McCutchen rounds the bases after a first inning home run.
• Make that seven quality starts in a row for the Pirates.
Hill got off to a bit of a shaky start, loading the bases in the first and allowing a solo shot to Kris Bryant in the third, but he conquered the altitude to deliver six innings of one run ball.
One of the many challenges about pitching at Coors is the altitude can make it difficult for breaking balls to move the way a pitcher intends. Hill heavily leaned on his curveball and sweeper, throwing them a combined 58 times on his 105 pitches, and the Rockies were not able to do much damage against them, whiffing eight times on those two pitches.
"That intensity and effort that continued to build over the six innings," Hill answered when asked what he liked most about his outing. "There were definitely takeaways from this game, to be able to bring to the next game from the first pitch. Understanding why I’ve been able to play for as long as I have been able to play is the intensity. That’s something that I liked to see tonight."
And again, to repeat, that's seven straight quality starts.That shouldn't and can't be overlooked when looking at this 10-7 start.
"When you put that onus on the hitter, it makes it hard," Hill said. "That’s something that we’ve been doing from spring training. It’s carried over into the season. Now we’re obviously seeing the results. That’s something that is the constant."
• This was Connor Joe's return to Coors Field, the home where he made his return to the majors back in 2021 and gave him his first real major-league opportunity.
Before the game started, Joe went on the field for Rockies' batting practice, where he was greeted by just about every Rockie on the field.
"As much as you’d like to say it’s just business, you kinda pick this series out from the beginning," Joe said. "It’s exciting to be back, to see those guys over there, see the staff. There are such good people over there in that clubhouse."
Before the game, I asked if he had a favorite memory in this ballpark.
"The one that comes to mind is my first homer, which came a year after I got told that I was cancer-free. July 20, 2020. I hit my first homer July 20, 2021. That’s probably my greatest memory of baseball in general. And it happened here, which is really special."
• In case you missed it, Mound Visit this week was about Hayes' swing and trying to get in the right position. After a multi-hit night, I asked him if he feels he is getting closer to finding that spot.
"A little bit, yeah. More than anything, too, I’ve gotten pitches over the middle of the plate. Just being in a little bit of a better position to be able to get that contact a little bit more out front. Not exactly where I want to be, like where I feel I’m at my best, but I feel like the last three, four or five days, just feeling a lot more comfortable in the box reading pitches and being able to lay off pitches that I don’t want to swing at."
• An 11 run differential is the largest for a Pirate road victory under Shelton. The last time they won by at least 11 away from PNC Park was June 26, 2019.
• Time of game: Two hours and 52 minutes. For a game where a team scored 14 runs. That absolutely gets a "praise be to the pitch clock."
• Factoid of the game: Hill is the third pitcher age 43 or older to ever go six innings at Coors Field and allow one or fewer runs. The others were Jamie Moyer (5/6/12) and Randy Johnson (5/15/07).
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: 1B Ji-Man Choi (achilles)
• 15-day injured list: RHP Chase De Jong (lumbar spine), Rob Zastryzny (elbow)
• 60-day injured list: RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Connor Joe, RF
6. Rodolfo Castro, SS
7. Tucupita Marcano, 2B
8. Ji Hwan Bae, CF
9. Austin Hedges, C
And for Bud Black's Rockies:
1. Jurickson Profar, LF
2. Kris Bryant, RF
3. Charlie Blackmon, DH
4. CJ Cron, 1B
5. Elias Díaz, C
6. Ryan McMahon, 2B
7. Elehuris Montero, 3B
8. Yonathan Daza, CF
9. Ezequiel Tovar, SS
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will try to clinch a winning record on the road trip Tuesday when Vince Velasquez (1-2, 5.40) takes on José Ureña (0-2, 9.90). First pitch will be at 8:40 p.m. Eastern, and I'll be here for it.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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