There’s not a ton the Pirates can do these days to generate national buzz. But functioning as the foil while their former pitcher tried to follow his no-hitter with a strong outing in the place where he used to play? Yeah, they could do that.
For anyone wondering how Joe Musgrove might’ve fared against his former team, or whether he might do something crazy like twirl a second consecutive no-no, the scrappy Pirates became a vastly more interesting story.
The Pirates’ 5-1 victory at PNC Park ensured at least a split against one of the best teams in baseball, a club expected to compete for the National League pennant. The story was less about Musgrove and more about what Tyler Anderson, Gregory Polanco, Adam Frazier and Colin Moran did, about how the Pirates have taken two of the first three against the big, bad Padres, with a chance for more on Thursday.
The Pirates (5-7) have now won four of five. They’ve scored 30 runs in those games after producing a total of 19 in their first seven. They also beat one of their employees for the second time in four days. Pittsburgh won for the eighth time in the past nine against San Diego, which mustered only one run against Anderson and a handful of relievers.
Frazier finished with three hits, two doubles and two RBIs. Moran had a key RBI. Anderson meanwhile earned his first win as a Pirate. But one of the bigger stories was Gregory Polanco, who hit his first home run of the season in the second inning, turning on a high-and-inside fastball and sending it to the seats in right field.
It was a terrific swing from the Pirates outfielder, the ball leaving his bat at 103 mph. Musgrove turned his head to see and shook his head in disgust after the ball left the yard, knowing he had made a mistake.
The home run comes at an interesting time for Polanco, after manager Derek Shelton gave him the past two days off to do side work with hitting coach Rick Eckstein and assistant Christian Marrero.
Shelton did call on Polanco did pinch-hit Monday — he struck out — but wanted to get the Pirates’ longest-tenured player some time away. It looks like it worked.
The home run was the 47th for Polanco in this ballpark, tying him with Craig Wilson for fifth place on the career home runs list at PNC Park. Next up is Garrett Jones with 51.
Polanco’s approach in his next two at-bats was better, too. In the fourth, Polanco fouled off a pair of two-strike breaking balls, let a borderline changeup go for a ball and smacked a cutter for a single.
There was a similar amount of plate discipline in the sixth inning, as Polanco saw seven more pitches and worked a walk.
The Pirates had chances to score in the third and fourth but couldn’t do anything with the opportunities.
Frazier had a leadoff double in the third before the Pirates made three consecutive outs. They had first and second with nobody out in the next inning, but Dustin Fowler, Michael Perez and Anderson couldn’t get the ball out of the infield.
Pittsburgh finally pushed one across in the fifth, when again Frazier led off with a double, and Moran stroked a single up the middle. Moran saw a first-pitch curveball from Padres reliever Pierce Johnson and smartly didn’t try to do too much with it.
It was Moran’s seventh RBI this season out of the cleanup spot. Only Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer (9) has more among National League players who hit there.
While Polanco got the Pirates going from an offensive standpoint, Anderson delivered another quality start. The left-hander went 5 1/3 innings and allowed an earned run on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Anderson threw his sinker about 8 percent more Wednesday than he did in his last start while leaning on his four-seam fastball about 10% less. The reason could be as simple as feel. But credit to the 31-year-old, he was around the plate a lot, walked only two and induced a lot of weak contact.
The Padres’ average exit velocity against Anderson was just 86.3 mph. Anderson also did something no other Pirates pitcher has done this season by going 1-2-3 in the first inning.
Pirates opponents had scored at least one run in eight of 11 games coming in before Anderson breezed through the top of the first on just seven pitches.
San Diego’s only run against Anderson came in the sixth inning, when the pitcher started with a walk to Manny Machado. The Padres third baseman went to second on Hosmer’s groundout and scored on a single from Tommy Pham.
Anderson had left the game by that point. It also snapped a 1-for-21 skid for the Padres left fielder, who seemed to be sitting on a Duane Underwood Jr. breaking ball.
Musgrove wound up working four innings and allowed the Polanco homer among his four hits, walking two and striking out six. The right-hander won a terrific battle with Moran in the first, getting his former teammate looking on a cutter on the 11th pitch of the at-bat.
In his first and only at-bat, Musgrove singled. He also stared down good friend Phillip Evans before third-inning at-bats and wound up striking out his former roommate and live batting practice partner with a nasty slider.
