PITTSBURGH — In a game with very little in the way of offense, the Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers presented an interesting contrast of styles in the Brewers’ 1-0 victory Friday night at PNC Park.
The Brewers were able to muster just three hits, but played perfect small ball in the sixth inning to score a run on just one hit — a Scooter Gennett double scored Martin Maldonado, who had reached on a hit-by-pitch, advanced on a hit-and-run ground out and tagged up on a fly ball.
The Pirates, meanwhile, pounded starter Junior Guerra and six different relievers for seven hits and had baserunners in eight of nine innings, but never even got a man as far as third base.
The Pirates don’t play a lot of small ball. They’ve eschewed bunting — a data-driven approach that’s undoubtedly come from the top down and has been implemented by manager Clint Hurdle. But interestingly enough, they have made the opposite commitment when it comes to stealing bases.
Lead by Starling Marte, the Pirates are sixth in all of baseball with 100 stolen bases, and they aren’t just prolific, they’re at least relatively successful. They’re sitting at right around 70 percent on the season.
But the Pirates’ aggression on the base paths has gone far beyond stealing bases. They’ve looked to take extra bases at many opportunities, forcing opposing defense to make plays to make outs.
On Friday, the Pirates ran themselves into three outs, with Marte caught stealing in the second inning, pinch-runner Alen Hanson caught leaning off first base in the seventh inning and — perhaps most painfully — Josh Harrison thrown out at third base with no one out in the eighth inning attempting to get an extra base on a throwing error. Harrison would have likely scored two batters later on Andrew McCutchen’s single, making his out more impactful. But any of them could have allowed the Pirates to score a run.
None of the plays were a glaring error by a player, according to Hurdle, but rather a part of a systemic plan to be aggressive on the basepaths. Marte — third in the National League with 46 steals — typically has a green light. Hanson did, as well. When Harrison rounded second base, third-base coach Rick Sofield was waving him on, despite Harrison being thrown out by several feet.
“You don’t want to make the out at third,” Hurdle said. “However, how many times has he made a play and let it fly and we’re all going, ‘Wow, that was good?’ He peeked at the third-base coach. I believe Sofield had him going. It took a major-league throw to get him and they got him.”
“Both me and ‘Sof’ were on the same page,” Harrison said, while admitting that running into out there was a bad outcome. “At the end of the day, you live and die by that. … Anyway that we can, we look to take it, within reason. That was one that we felt was within reason. It just didn’t turn out the way that we wanted. That’s when we’re at our best, when we put pressure on the other side.”
Harrison’s implication is that — score and situation aside — the Pirates are better off with an aggressive mindset over the course of a season.
But is that correct?
Yes, according to Baseball Prospectus’ baserunning runs statistic. The the Pirates are ninth in all of baseball with 4.0 baserunning runs. The Pirates have positive values in stolen bases, air advancement, hit advancement and other advancement — that’s the category Harrison’s jaunt would have counted as.
So while the outcome Friday may have been frustrating, the Pirates’ aggressive approach on the bases has been working thus far this season.
