CINCINNATI — While Josh Harrison gave what could be his final postgame interview with the Pirates, Elias Diaz broke through a group of reporters to give the second baseman a hug and a farewell. Harrison, the team's longest tenured player, had watched from the dugout at Great American Ball Park as their season ended with a 6-5 win over the Reds in 10 innings on Sunday.
It wasn't the end he envisioned when first reporting for spring training in February. He and many of the Pirates' regulars didn't play. Corey Dickerson was given a break to ensure he finished with a .300 average. Harrison and Jordy Mercer likely made their final starts for the club one day earlier. Chris Archer, like fellow starter Joe Musgrove, was shutdown because of a nagging injury, which led Clay Holmes to pitch this final game.
Josh Bell and Colin Moran both finished seasons in which they fell short of expectations. Collectively, the group finished with an 82-79 record, the franchise's fourth winning season in 26 years. They won 23 series, lost 22 and tied seven others. Playoff contention was ruled out in mid-September after they were arguably the most aggressive team at the non-waiver trade deadline.
Clint Hurdle, Neal Huntington and every player who spoke to reporters during this final road trip expressed disappointment of how it all went wrong. Yet, each was brimming with optimism about what could be possible with a blossoming pitching staff and a young position-player group that has fewer questions than it did one year ago.
"The grit and the grind," Hurdle beamed before the finale. "Man, it played. The individual stories, there’s a lot of growth, and the grit showed up. At the end, it’s that cohesive element that I feel very, very encouraged by. These men together will be able to look each other in the eyes when they walk out, shake each other’s hand and say, ‘Well done. Work to do next year, but well done. The season did not get away from us.’ We stayed in the hunt, we kept fighting, we didn’t get to where we needed to go or where we wanted to go, but we stayed focused on getting better every day."
To continue reading, log into your account:
