CINCINNATI -- Before Pirates manager Clint Hurdle decided who would start Sunday, he spoke to several people. In addition to his coaching staff, general manager Neal Huntington, president Frank Coonelly and chairman Bob Nutting, Hurdle took the temperature of his leadership council, a group of players he relies on for feedback.
"To a man, unequivocally, there's no pause, there's no doubt, there's no, 'Let me figure this out, let me see what's best, how we're best suited,' " Hurdle said of their response. "Let's win the game."
Hurdle started Gerrit Cole in his regular turn in the rotation rather than holding back Cole, either for a possible tiebreaker game today or a wild-card game Wednesday night at PNC Park. The decision had two main facets: Start Cole, their best option, against Cincinnati Reds ace Johnny Cueto, and play for a division title? Or skip Cole, roll the dice with the long relievers and hope for the best?
"There's no way we're going to walk away from an opportunity to win our division," Hurdle said.
There were downsides to both. Cole cannot start Wednesday in the wild-card game, and the Pirates did not control their destiny; even if they had won Sunday, they needed the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks to beat Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals to force a tiebreaker. But starting a long reliever diminished the chances of beating Cueto.
"Everybody wanted to win," Josh Harrison said. "We didn't come into the day saying, let's not throw Cole."
Cole said the team did not worry about what his pitching Sunday would do to the rotation for today or Wednesday, or the extra travel that tying for the division title would have entailed. He also didn't lobby to pitch.
"I was approached with the game plan before I even thought about saying anything," he said.
In 2007, when Hurdle's Colorado Rockies won a tiebreaking Game 163 and eventually advanced to the World Series, Hurdle sent Ubaldo Jimenez to the mound on the season's final day and won. The San Diego Padres held Jake Peavy back for the tiebreaker and lost. The Rockies then beat the Padres in the tiebreaker.
"This is not about theory," Hurdle said. "This is not about analytics."
Hurdle quoted a piece of advice he had received regarding decision making: Choose the option that lets you sleep at night. How did he sleep Saturday night? "Like a baby."
Stewart injured
Chris Stewart left the game Sunday in the eighth inning after a bat hit his left wrist on a backswing, but X-rays showed no fracture.
"It was really weak," Stewart said. "When it happened I couldn't really move it around too much."
Cueto inadvertently hit Stewart with the barrel of the bat on his go-ahead RBI single.
"Still stiff and pretty sore right now but we have a couple days until the next game, so hopefully it clears up by then," Stewart said.
Stewart started in place of Russell Martin, who is still dealing with tightness in his left hamstring. Tony Sanchez, who replaced Stewart, is the only other catcher on the active roster.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: September 29, 2014, 4:00 a.m.