Starling Marte’s day began with first base/outfield coach Kimera Bartee talking to him and others about positioning, part of a back-to-basics approach employed by manager Clint Hurdle in the midst of a frustrating stretch for the Pirates out of the All-Star break.
It ended with Marte making a terrific catch from one of the spots that Bartee pointed to, leaping and closing his glove on the final out that secured a victory the Pirates (52-73) sorely needed.
In between, Marte reinforced what has been glaringly obvious to anyone following this team over the past six weeks: Marte has been the Pirates’ most consistent player, their best on many nights, and he’s enjoying arguably the best season of his career.
“Yeah,” Marte said when asked whether he thinks this is his best and most consistent season. “I’ve been doing a good job. Everybody has pushed me to continue to do what I do better. The season is not over. A couple more games left. I have to push myself the best I can every night.”
The Pirates topped the Nationals, 4-1, Tuesday at PNC Park, improving to 8-28 out of the All-Star break.
While Josh Bell drove the bus for the Pirates in the first half, out of the break he has passed the baton to Marte, who gave the Pirates the lead with a three-run home run in the eighth inning.
It was the 22nd home run for Marte this season, a total that trails only Mike Trout of the Angels for MLB center fielders.
Whether it has been offense or defense, Marte has been incredibly dependable for the Pirates at a time where not much has been that with this club.
“We’ve played a lot of defense this year,” Hurdle said. “He’s had to go out in the outfield and run down a lot of balls. And he’s provided a lot of offense.”
Marte, who has started every game in center field dating to June 18, has also come through plenty in the clutch. He now has 39 RBIs from the seventh inning on, the second most among National League players.
“That was one of his goals at the beginning of the season, to be dependable,” Hurdle said. “He’s been very, very dependable.”
In addition to the offense and defense, Marte also has been the Pirates’ best base-stealing threat. He has a team-high 22 stolen bases, eclipsing the 20 steals mark for the seventh consecutive season.
Marte is one of just four major league players with at least 20 home runs and 20 steals, joining Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr., Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich and Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez.
Marte has done that in consecutive seasons, too. Only four other Pirates — Dave Parker, Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke and Andrew McCutchen — have gone 20/20 in multiple seasons.
For the final out of the game, Marte caught a ball at the wall off the bat of Howie Kendrick. Felipe Vazquez said he thought it was gone, then looked back at the last second to see Marte make a terrific play.
While that closed the book on one of the few feel-good wins the Pirates have had in the unofficial second half, Marte said he still enjoyed the home run he hit more.
“The home run feels much better,” Marte said. “In the eighth inning of a tight game, I tried to put my best swing [on the ball]. I just got it. Also it was a good play, too, in the outfield.”
Around the horn
• Richard Rodriguez returned from the 10-day injured list earlier in the day and gave the Pirates 1⅔ innings of scoreless relief.
“I came back with the same preparation, the same game plan and glad that it worked,” Rodriguez said through team translator Mike Gonzalez.
• Bryan Reynolds has gone 2 for 22 (.090) after hitting .432 (19 for 44) in his first 11 games in August.
• Hurdle now has 1,252 career victories, one shy of tying Billy Martin for 38th place on the all-time managerial wins list.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: August 21, 2019, 4:47 a.m.