DENVER -- In the Pirates' ugly 16-4 loss to the Rockies Saturday night at Coors Field, one particular play may have stood out among the rest:
I just can’t believe the height this lob reached with a guy on third pic.twitter.com/F1UgAlscdH
— 𝐍𝐒𝟗 (@NorthShoreNine) June 16, 2024
Sure, this particular steal of home by Ryan McMahon in the fifth inning wasn't the main reason why the Pirates suffered such a lopsided defeat. It didn't count for as many runs as Hunter Goodman drove in (5) during a four-hit, two-homer night, or the amount of runs that came across to score on Michael Toglia's eighth-inning grand slam off Dennis Santana. But, perhaps it served as an adequate way to illustrate all that went awry on a rough night in Colorado.
McMahon took off for home after an 0-2 pitch from Jared Jones to Nolan Jones was taken for a ball outside. Ke'Bryan Hayes was playing far off the third-base bag and McMahon timed up Yasmani Grandal's lob back to the mound. He took off right before the throw and scored easily to extend the Rockies' lead to 6-1.
"There wasn't miscommunication," Derek Shelton said. "He made a soft throw and McMahon made a good play."
Jones said he saw McMahon take off right when Grandal was about to throw the ball back. By the time Jones caught the ball, there wasn't a play to be made.
"There obviously wasn’t enough time to throw it back home and get him out," Jones said.
Grandal said he never checked on McMahon, but did glance over at him and saw him go back. That didn't stop McMahon from taking advantage of the miscue and helping the Rockies continue to build on to their sizable advantage.
"That can't happen obviously," Grandal said. "It's mental error, pretty much. There's a few other things that go into that, but let's just keep it a mental error."
