Don’t try to predict baseball. It’s a waste of time. Pittsburgh weather, fine. Maybe even some lottery numbers. But this? Spitting into the wind might produce better results.
The freshest example of what a wild ride a baseball season can be came Saturday with the Pirates’ 12-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park, setting up a Sunday showdown for the series and some serious momentum heading into the All-Star break.
Dario Agrazal went six innings, Kevin Newman and Colin Moran each had four hits and drove in three runs, and the Pirates (43-45) keep nipping at the heels of the National League Central Division’s best.
“We’re here to win games,” Newman said. “We’re just trying to go out there and get wins every night and hopefully make things real interesting.”
The Pirates, now winners in 13 of their past 20, have done that this season. In spades.
Just look at the aforementioned story lines. Newman and Moran were backups out of spring training, stuck behind Erik Gonzalez and Jung Ho Kang.
Yeah, so much for that.
They’ve hit and hit and hit, and they’ve forced manager Clint Hurdle to keep them in the lineup because of how they’ve helped the offense, which has morphed into one of MLB’s best.
Moran is up to 49 RBIs on the season and trails only Josh Bell when it comes to how he has hit with runners in scoring position — .355 before Saturday. Newman was a shell of himself last season but took the winter to recalibrate his eating and transform his body.
Now, Newman chugs at least two protein shakes per day, and his wife — Shayne — has helped by cooking a ton of extra pasta (Kevin’s favorite) to make sure there’s always a late-night snack available.
“He bounced back over the winter,” Hurdle said of Newman. “He was worn down when he got here.
“He got stronger, put some weight on, added some muscle, some strength, worked on his swing. He came in in much better form and shape. He’s just been playing.
“This is the most confident he’s probably been as a hitter in a Pirates uniform.”
At the beginning of the season, nobody had Newman starting at short, and surely no sane person had him clobbering six home runs, at least outside of his time spent on xBox or PlayStation.
But whether it’s been in the leadoff spot or lower in the order, Newman has tapped into a resource of power that few thought he had.
“I don’t know,” Newman said. “Been in the weight room a little bit more this year. Maybe that’s where it’s coming from.”
There’s plenty of other yeah-right-no-way moments we could pluck from the Pirates season. Bryan Reynolds’ emergence. Josh Bell making runs at records held by Albert Pujols and Hank Aaron. Pitching turned from the backbone of this team to a potential backbreaker, if they can’t fortify the rotation some.
There has been the bullpen flipping from terrible to terrific, Richard Rodriguez going from abysmal early on to a scoreless-innings streak that now stands at 17⅓. On and on.
For Saturday, though, let’s shine the spotlight of insanity on Dario Agrazal, who was miles away from the starting rotation when the season started but has delivered back-to-back terrific outings, beating Houston and Milwaukee.
Agrazal has made all of three starts in the major leagues, and he pitches like he has made 200. He works quick. He pounds the strike zone. The stuff is so-so, but apparently nobody has told Agrazal. He pitches with guts.
“That’s always how I’ve been,” Agrazal said through team translator Mike Gonzalez. “My mentality has always been attack mode. I don’t like to put myself in any situation where I’m thinking too much.”
No, just let everyone else think for you. Smart move.
Think about how Agrazal earned himself at least another start with an injury to Steven Brault (left shoulder strain). And how it’s conceivable to see a rotation with Agrazal in it, should he keep pitching like this.
Against the Brewers, Agrazal went six innings and allowed two earned runs, both on homers. His pitch to Mike Moustakas was fine, a changeup at the knees. He’ll want the sinker up in the zone that he fed to Grandal, but it’s a solo home run. Those don’t lose games.
Of course, grand slams don’t lose games the way the Pirates are hitting the ball these days. They scored four in the first, two on Newman’s single. Newman homered in the fourth, and Starling Marte — owning the No. 3 spot, another development that was at least somewhat unpredictable — crushed a two-run triple.
The Pirates added five more in the eighth to turn this into a rout. Of those 13 wins, the (once offensively challenge) Pirates have scored eight or more runs in seven of those games.
So much for trying to predict what will happen, which is why it’s probably smart to not even try.
Around the horn
Adam Frazier had two hits Saturday and leads MLB with 15 this month. … Reynolds has hit safely in nine of his first 11 games with an at-bat against the Brewers. … The Pirates improved to 22-6 when Marte has at least one RBI. … The Pirates can improve to 5-1-1 in their past seven series with a win Sunday.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: July 7, 2019, 2:07 a.m.
Updated: July 7, 2019, 4:06 a.m.