WASHINGTON _ The 2017 Pirates were not the most illustrious squad in the team's vaunted history, but the season finale Sunday at Nationals Park will go down in history. And certainly, the players won't forget it _ if only because it took so long.
In true baseball fashion, a game that had little meaning for either team's fates in October will nevertheless go down in history. The Pirates beat the Washington Nationals, 11-8, at Nationals Park.
The game, which involved 45 players between both teams, took four hours and 22 minutes. It broke both the Nationals' and Pirates' franchise records for longest nine-inning game. Nationals manager Dusty Baker pulled many of his starters to receive appreciative applause from the home crowd. Neither starter went deep into the game, both managers made myriad substitutions, the Pirates flubbed several defensive plays, and the teams combined for 29 hits, all of which contributed to the historically long affair.
For its sheer length, this particular game may get a line in the dusty baseball books. Nevertheless, the Pirates' season, which ended with Sunday's game at Nationals Park, was rather forgettable. After splitting the four-game series against the National League East division winners, the Pirates finished with a 75-87 record. This year marked their second consecutive losing season and their lowest win total since 2011. They finished in fourth place in the National League Central, 17 games behind the Chicago Cubs, who won the division for the second year in a row.
The Pirates' season may be defined as much by the bad luck and bad behavior than by their poor outcomes. Starling Marte lost 80 games to his drug suspension, and Jung Ho Kang missed the season after not being able to secure a visa following his third DUI. Gregory Polanco's hamstring bothered him throughout the season. General manager Neal Huntington believes the Pirates left up to 55 home runs off the board because of the lost production from that trio.
Regardless of those what-ifs, the offense performed beneath its potential. It was 28th in the league in OPS and runs scored and 29th in home runs. In a year when batters across the league set a record for home runs, the Pirates' top home-run hitter Andrew McCutchen, who had 28 dingers, tied for 46th in the league.
Still, Josh Bell emerged as the team's first baseman for the foreseeable future, and McCutchen, who departed from Sunday's game early, largely bounced back from his dismal 2016 season.
The Pirates showed more promise on the mound. The team's pitchers ranked 12th in the league in ERA and fielding independent pitching. They received at least 25 starts from their top five starters, and used only seven all season _ half of their total in 2016. Felipe Rivero emerged as a star closer, while the young, competitive rotation demonstrated its potential. Jameson Taillon showed he might be the future ace, and his recovery from testicular cancer was one of baseball's most inspiring stories this year.
On Sunday, though, the Pirates just wanted to win a ballgame. Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez, who entered the game with a 2.75 ERA and 15 wins, allowed the entire Pirates lineup to bat in the first _ an inning in which he walked two batters, hit Jordan Luplow and allowed a bases-clearing double to Max Moroff. After the first half-inning, the Pirates were up, 5-0.
In bottom of the first, the Nationals quickly clawed back against left-hander Steven Brault, who made his fourth start of the season for the Pirates. Brault, the organization's minor league pitcher of the year, gave up a three-run homer to Anthony Rendon, faced six batters in each of the first two innings and was pulled after four more in the third, without recording an out. In total, he walked and struck out four batters, allowed six hits and was charged with four runs in two-plus innings.
Angel Sanchez out of the bases-loaded jam that Brault had left him. Sanchez, who entered Sunday's game with a 10.45 ERA in seven games, threw two strong innings, giving up one hit and no runs. The Nationals later scored two runs _ one, a home run from Michael Taylor _ against Dovydas Neverauskas.
