CHICAGO — It hasn’t always been pretty for Anthony Alford.
The Pirates’ left fielder entered Friday with 36 strikeouts in 72 plate appearances, or a 50% strikeout rate. He was slashing .167/.236/.303 through 24 games. Those are poor numbers, but even within those struggles, he’s shown some flashes; some impressive power here, some solid defense there.
If those were flashes, his effort Friday against the Chicago Cubs was a lightning bolt, even if it did come in a 6-5 loss. The 27-year-old stepped up in the bottom of the fifth, with the Pirates trailing 5-0. He got a first-pitch fastball on the inside part of the plate, pulled his hands in and absolutely let loose. The ball landed somewhere on Waveland Avenue, beyond the left-field bleachers at Wrigley Field, an estimated 461 feet from home plate for a solo homer.
He came back up in the sixth, this time in a 5-3 deficit, worked a full count with two outs and a runner on, then did it again. It wasn’t as deep as a soaring shot over the bleachers, but it did land on top of the suites in center field. The 435-foot homer tied the score at 5-5.
Add it up, and that’s 896 feet of home runs, three RBIs and two runs scored.
“I mean, I never really tried to hit home runs. I just think that’s a product of putting a good swing on a pitch that’s in the zone and just letting the pitchers throw home runs [more] than me trying to go out and hit them,” Alford said.
Unfortunately for Alford, his offensive heroics were wasted in this game. The Pirates started left-hander Steven Brault, and the veteran really just couldn’t find the plate. He gave up a leadoff double and a single immediately afterward in the first inning, but worked out of it without a run crossing the plate.
Then the walks set in. Brault issued free passes to two straight batters in the second, then gave up a two-run single to Michael Hermosillo and another RBI base hit to Frank Schwindel. Another walk in the third inning came around to score on a single. In the fourth, Hermosillo got to Brault again, lifting a homer over the bleachers in left.
All told, Brault lasted just four innings, hit for five earned runs on seven base knocks, including the homer, and four walks.
“Last year at the end of the season, and coming into this year, one of the things I wanted to make sure of is that I had reduced, cut down the walks,” Brault said. “That was really important to me. And so a day like today, when that's happening and I'm getting those walks, for me that means there's a glaring issue that needs to be addressed, and it will be addressed.”
All of that came before Alford brought some life to the Pirates. He ripped his dinger in the fifth to get one run, then third baseman Hoy Park went back-to-back, launching a solo homer into the right field bleachers.
In the sixth, the Pirates were given a gift. First baseman Colin Moran got to first with one out on a line drive that bounced off the glove of the Cubs’ third baseman. Second baseman Kevin Newman singled to move Moran over, before catcher Michael Perez appeared to ground into an inning-ending double play. But the Cubs’ shortstop, Sergio Alcantara, sailed his relay throw over the first baseman and into the Pirates dugout. Perez took second, and Moran was awarded home.
That turned out to be even more consequential thanks to Alford, who hit his second long ball of the day to tie the score.
But for the second game in a row, the Pirates fought back from a deficit to tie the score at 5-5 only to see it slip away soon afterward. On Thursday, they tied it in the ninth inning and lost in extras. On Friday, they tied it in the sixth and immediately lost the lead later that same inning.
Their newest bullpen addition, veteran right-hander Shelby Miller, entered in the sixth, and the second batter he faced, Schwindel, lifted the final homer of the day, a one-run, go-ahead shot to left field, which was ultimately the final and winning run.
“Obviously you want to win those games, but just showing that you can come back in those times and you are willing to give it everything even when you're down, I think, is very important for this team,” Brault said.
Even more cruel than that was Alford’s final at-bat. He came back up in the ninth, with his team still trailing by a run, and a chance to make the difference one more time. He could not, striking out on three pitches.
Perhaps that’s appropriate. Once again, Alford showed flashes of his capabilities. But it came in a tough Pirates loss and ended with a strikeout.
