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.
To continue reading, log into your account:
