Pirates drumming up plenty of interest
PITTSBURGH – That the Pirates home opener against the Baltimore Orioles drew a sellout, boisterous crowd of 38,986 Friday afternoon wasn’t a huge surprise.
The season’s first game at PNC Park is annually a big event in the city regardless of the team’s outlook.
This one had a much different feel to it, though.
There were two key reasons for that.
One is the Pirates invested in improving their offense in the offseason and brought in solid hitters such as Ryan O’Hearn and Brandon Lowe, along with Marcel Ozuna, although only the first two have produced positive results so far.
The organization’s moves to back up a starting rotation that includes last year’s Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes, highly-touted rookie Bubby Chandler and consistent veteran Mitch Keller had fans entering the season with more of an upbeat attitude.
Second is the debut of what many considered the top minor-league prospect in baseball. Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin added an extra buzz to the stadium.
The build-up for his first game was a key test in itself. All of baseball was watching, not just Pittsburgh fans. Multiple cameras were behind the 19-year-old Griffin for something as simple as him fielding grounders while warming up before the first pitch.
It all led to a stadium full of anticipation, waiting to explode.
And while it was only one at bat, Griffin showed a lot of why the Pirates offered him a historic, nine-year, $140 million contract extension through the 2035 season.
Drawing a loud ovation as he stepped to the plate, Griffin saw five pitches from the Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish, none of which were fastballs.
The first four were sliders with Griffin swinging and missing at the first, taking a ball and then swinging and missing again. With the count at 1-2, Griffin fouled off a pitch then drove a curveball into center field for a double that brought in O’Hearn with the first run of the game.
The crowd erupted with glee and gave Griffin a standing ovation as he stood on second base.
The Pirates seemed to feed off the energy Griffin created, pushing across three more runs in the frame for a 4-0 lead.
Griffin walked, struck out swinging and grounded out in his other three plate appearances and was flawless in the field on several routine plays.
The Pirates hung on for a 5-4 win and, yes, it’s still plenty early in the season, but fans likely left the park with a much more positive feeling after the home opener than they have in years.
STRONG FOLLOWUP
Another good sign for the Pirates was that the attendance for the second game at PNC Park this season, usually a drastic decrease from the home opener, was a strong 27,949.
It was a Saturday, which helped, but still it showed the Pirates’ early success – they earned a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth on Nick Yorke’s RBI double to improve to 5-3 – and interest in watching Griffin, who went 0 for 3 but was again solid in the field and started a double play for the second game in a row, has fans very interested in watching this team.
ABS IN THE MIX
Major League Baseball has implemented the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system this season and it’s added a different bit of strategy to each game.
Teams get two challenges per game and either the batter or pitcher must decided fairly quickly after each pitch whether to initiate a challenge or not by tapping their head.
Teams retain their challenges if a call is overturned but two failed challenges and that’s it for that particular game.
It’s already had an effect on several games throughout baseball this season.
Managers might need to instruct players on when to and when not to use one. It makes sense to make sure a team has one late in the game for a crucial situation.
In the opener, the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds challenged a strike call on a 1-0 pitch in the bottom of the first inning with one out and a runner on second.
Bad move. The ball was halfway inside the bottom of the zone with the strike being upheld and Pittsburgh losing one of its two challenges.
Whether the count went 1-1 or 2-0 there didn’t seem like a critical moment in the game.
Later, in the top of the seventh Pirates catcher Henry Davis challenged a 3-2 pitch by Yohan Ramirez that was called a ball to Pete Alonzo with a runner on second, one out and one run already in that pulled Baltimore within 5-3.
Good move. Although the ball call was confirmed by the slightest of margins, 0.1 inch, it was well worth the gamble by Davis in that situation. Had the call been reversed, Alonzo would’ve been the second out and the potential tying run wouldn’t have been on the base paths.
The Pirates still managed to get out of the inning when hard-throwing lefty reliever Mason Montgomery came on to record the final two outs of the inning, stranding two runners.
On Saturday, the Orioles couldn’t challenge an important close ball call on Yorke in the ninth inning. A reversal would’ve resulted in a strike-three call on Yorke but Baltimore had already failed on two earlier challenges and had none left.
Yorke won the game on the next pitch.
CONE MANIA
Those watching the Pirates celebrate in the dugout have probably noticed the plastic, orange plastic traffic cones being consistently used as a prop.
Lowe came up with the idea to help the Bucs’ offense steer traffic around the bases and home and it’s quickly caught on as a key part of any team success on the field.
This doesn’t have the feel of a quick-fading fad. Fans are already into it.
Seems like we’ll be seeing orange cones all year at PNC Park.
Rob Burchianti is sports editor of the Ãå±±½ûµØ and can be reached at rburchianti@heraldstandard.com