With Inexperience Comes Errors: Pirates Have to Work Through Mistakes
In game two of yesterday's doubleheader, the Pirates had what looked like a convincing lead taken away by defensive miscues. The Pirates committed three errors, and one mental error, that led to six runs and turned a 2-1 Pirates lead into a 7-2 Cardinals lead. The only hit in that inning was a three-run home run Dylan Carson that took the game from a somewhat manageable deficit to an almost insurmountable mountain to climb. It put a capper on what would become a four-error night and extended the Pirates lead for the most errors in the Major Leagues with 45. It has been frustrating not only for fans but for the players and coaches as well, see Jacob Stallings getting ejected last night.
Unfortunately, with a young team errors are something that you are going to have to deal with. The transition to the Major Leagues is not an easy one and even the most talented players will make mistakes in the field. However, the only way to improve on those errors is to keel trotting those players out there night in and night out. The more you rely on your young players after they make mistakes, the more confidence that player will get. Even a guy like Ke'Bryan Hayes, who has been perfect through his first two weeks as a Pirate, fell victim yesterday with a throwing error on the way to home plate. Today, let's look at what went wrong in that fateful bottom of the sixth inning and how the Pirates can improve moving forward.
The No Good, Very Bad Inning
Entering the bottom of the sixth inning things looked like they were going to go the Pirates way. Chad Kuhl was flying through his first five innings of work allowing just one earned run on an RBI single by Paul DeJong. Then the bottom of the sixth inning started with some controversy. Tommy Edman took a 3-2 pitch that was in the strike zone but was called ball four. The Cardinals would then load the bases on a catcher's interference and a walk to load the bases with no one out. The next batter, Paul DeJong, lifted a sacrifice fly to right field and the runners moved up when Gregory Polanco fired home I instead of going to second base.
Then, Tyler O'Neil hit a ground ball to third that looked like a possible double play, but Hayes ended up overthrowing Jacob Stallings and everyone was safe as they took the 3-2 lead. There was another double play opportunity on the next batter, but Josh Bell ended up throwing the ball into left field. Another run came around to score and there were runners on first and third still with one out. Dylan Carson was up next and reliever Chris Stratton tried to get his team out of a jam. Things would only get worse as Carson hit his second career home run extending the St. Louis lead to 7-2 and giving the Cardinals the lead for the top of the seventh.
The Pirates got a leadoff single from Erik Gonzalez in the top half of the seventh inning, but that is all they would get as the Pirates fell 7-2. The frustration on this Pirates team was evident when Jacob Stallings, normally a mild-mannered character, earned his first career ejection when he was thrown out with one out in the top of the seventh. It was the icing on the cake for a Pirates team that was swept in their second straight doubleheader and their first at home since the 1980s. Things are pretty bad on this current Pirates team from the record to the play on the field, but the only way to fix that is to keep trotting those guys out and hope they get better.
Second and Third Chances
The key to helping a player get better ironically is to keep trotting them out there and hope they figure it out. Because of injuries, many guys have been thrust into situations that they aren't ready to handle, and with that, there are going to be mistakes. For guys like Hayes, there is going to be an adjustment period as they figure out the Major League game. Hayes will undoubtedly bounce back because of his minor league numbers. He is a gold glove caliber defender at the hot corner with a career fielding percentage of .974 at third base. As far as the catcher's interference goes, Stallings just needs to get some more work in behind home plate to judge where he can set up.
The concerning error comes from Bell on the throw into left field. Bell has been in the Majors for five seasons now and still hasn't seemed to be able to figure it out. He was drafted as an outfielder in the second round of the 2012 MLB draft. However, because of the depth that the Pirates had in the system, they moved Bell to first base, and he paved his way to the Majors. Bell was never expected to be a gold glove caliber first baseman, but he was expected to do enough to not be a liability. However, since he has gotten to the Majors, it seems his defense has gotten worst. He tampered with his throwing motion in the offseason and even that hasn't seemed to help. With the designated hitter in the National League, I think Bell should be the full-time DH moving forward with Moran at first base.
The defense will look to improve as the Pittsburgh Pirates (15-36) play game four of their five-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals (24-24). Mitch Keller (1-1, 5.06) will be making his second start since coming off the Injured List for the Pirates against Kwang Hyun Kim (2-0, 0.63) for the Cardinals. You can watch both games live on AT&T Sportsnet or listen on 93.7 The Fan as the Pirates try to tie the series at two games apiece.
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