CINCINNATI -- Three days off, and the Pirates' popgun offense suddenly scored nine times in the first two inning of a 9-6 rout of the Reds Thursday evening at Great American Ball Park.
That type of offensive output might have surprisef to some, but not Josh Bell, who predicted the offense, which has struggled for the most part this year, would start turning around before the game.
"I think that things are going to change, starting this series," Bell said early in the afternoon. "We have to be on time for fastballs. We have to be able to drive the ball right back up the middle, in the air, keep balls off the ground and whatnot."
The Pirates ended up driving the ball all over the field, especially in the air, homering three times in their first six at-bats, a franchise first.
After the game, Derek Shelton called it a "Nostradamus call."
Bell's forecasted change started from the Pirates' first swing by Adam Frazier:
Colin Moran followed with a solo shot later in the inning, and Gregory Polanco led off the second with one of his own.
That opened the floodgates for the Pirates, who scored seven more times in the second to build a 9-0 advantage.
Bell even got in on the fun with a two-run, bases-loaded knock:
By the end of the second, six different Pirates had an RBI and seven had scored a run.
Early offense has been hard to come by this year for the Pirates, who had scored just 10 runs during the first and second innings of their first 16 games combined. And all of these came off Cincinnati starter Anthony DeSclafani, who had not allowed a run all season -- 11 scoreless innings in his first two starts -- until Thursday.
“We’re used to seeing him so good,” Cincinnati manager David Bell said of DeSclafani. “They seemed like they were on everything.”
Tucker Barnhart, the Reds' catcher, said he believed DeSclafani was tipping pitches and that the Pirates were aware.
“We caught a little bit of a tip that he was tipping,” Barnhart said. “I'd rather not say exactly what it was, but we caught a tip that he was tipping, so we feel like, for the most part, we caught it. Obviously a little too late.”
The Pirates' explanation was simpler.
"You’re just trying to get up there ready to swing, ready to attack a pitch over the middle and go from there, and we got lucky a few times, too," Frazier said of the approach to DeSclafani. "I know I did on that second at-bat [a ground-ball single], so I guess it was just our day against him."
While the Pirates could not plate any more runs the rest of the night, they came close on several occasions, only to be snuffed out by terrific defensive plays by the Reds, the highlight of which was a leaping grab at the wall by left fielder Shogo Akiyama, robbing Frazier of a run-scoring double.
Despite coming up empty in the later innings, Shelton saw the same aggressive swings that put his team ahead.
"Aggressiveness really doesn’t have to be power," Shelton said. "Today we hit the ball out of the ballpark, but aggressiveness is just taking a good, healthy hack at the pitch we like. And I think we saw that throughout."
Those aggressive swings came after an unexpected three-day layoff. The Pirates' series with the Cardinals, originally scheduled for Monday through Wednesday, was postponed after a second wave of positive COVID-19 tests in the Cardinals' clubhouse.
For a team that had started 3-13 and was in the middle of what was supposed to be 17 straight games, it was a good time to unplug.
"It was a much-needed reset for us," starter Trevor Williams said. "We had [two] really good work days at the field. We came to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, looking to get better. I wouldn't say it’s like starting the season 0-0 again, but I would say it's a much-needed reset — mentally, physically. We needed that. It recharges your batteries a little bit."
While most of the Pirates' early offensive woes have been attributed to timing problems, a couple days off hitting against the high-velocity pitching machine seemed to get things right for Thursday.
"It was huge," Frazier said about the break. "A lot of guys, including myself, were searching a little bit, trying to find it, and I think it was great. Just a mental reset. Obviously the first 15, 16 games didn’t really go the way we wanted or expected, so those couple days we took advantage of and just try to build off this one tonight into tomorrow."
To continue reading, log into your account:
