PIRATES GEAR UP FOR STRETCH RUN
With five months gone in the 2015 regular season, the Pirates still have plenty on the line. They will spend September trying to gain ground on the first-place St. Louis Cardinals in order to avoid a third consecutive National League wild-card game. As rosters expand today, so does the number of storylines to track in the stretch run. Here are a few.
The chase
At 79-50, the Pirates haven’t had more wins at this point in the season since 1972, then 1925, then 1909. Still, a historic season will demand a historic September if the Pirates are to overtake the Cardinals in the NL Central and win their first division crown since 1992.
Of their 16 division- and pennant-winning seasons, the Pirates never trailed entering September. After Monday, the Pirates trailed the Cardinals by 5 games, and led the Chicago Cubs by 5½ in a two-horse, wild-card runaway.
“We’re in second place,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “We want to get to first place.”
The Pirates open September with a nine-game road trip through Milwaukee, St. Louis and Cincinnati. Somewhere along that route, they likely will tick off win No. 82, which had so much fanfare two years ago. Now, the Pirates have their sights on a much bigger number.
To reach 100 wins for the third time in club history, joining the 1902 and 1909 campaigns, the Pirates would need to go 21-12 down the stretch. Problem is, 26 of their final 33 games are against NL Central opponents — the Pirates are 21-29 against the Central this season, and 58-21 against everybody else.
“We’re still sitting in
wild-card spot,” closer Mark Melancon said. “The record doesn’t matter if we’re in a wild-card spot.” The rookie Expect to see a lot of Jung Ho Kang in September. He thrust himself into the NL rookie of the year conversation with a blistering July and August, batting .319 with 11 doubles and 8 home runs since the All-Star break.
He is hitting 288 with an .817 on-base plus slugging percentage and a 3.4 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) total, according to Fangraphs, third on the team behind Andrew McCutchen (5.4) and Gerrit Cole (4.3). Kang has started just 90 games in his major league career — the Pirates are 57-33 in those games.
“I’ve always imagined myself doing this since I was in Korea,” Kang said via interpreter HK Kim.
The emergence of Kang coupled with the return of third baseman Aramis Ramirez has overloaded the infield, as there are five potential starters for three spots. General manager Neal Huntington acknowledged the infielders “are putting their egos aside and putting their personal ambitions aside for the betterment of the team.”
The way Ramirez, 38, explained it, “Chemistry comes with winning. If you’re winning, everybody is having fun, everybody is having a good year.”
The closer
Since a rocky April in which he allowed three runs in two of his first seven outings, Melancon enters September with a career-high and league-leading 43 saves, tied for second most in club history with Jose Mesa. Melancon likely will shatter Mike Williams’ club record of 46 saves set in 2002.
Melancon is on pace for 54 saves. Since saves become official in 1969, that total has been eclipsed by just four closers — Francisco Rodriguez (62), Bobby Thigpen (57), Eric Gagne (55) and John Smoltz (55).
Of Melancon’s clubrecord 10 saves in August, six of them were what Elias Sports Bureau describes as “sloppy saves” — outings in which a pitcher allows a run or allows an inherited runner to score.
Saturday, Melancon gave up a two-run homer but saved his third game in a row. Melancon said he has gotten good at shaking off shaky saves.
“I’d better,” he said. “I won’t last long if I can’t. I still take it hard. It’s not an easy thing. But it’s motivation to be that much better.”
Buried treasure
• McCutchen already has more RBIs this season (85) than in his MVP season in 2013 (84). He will need to drive in 10 more runs in September to surpass his careerhigh total.
• Right-hander A.J. Burnett, a first-time All-Star this season, is expected to return in mid-September, giving the Pirates six starters for five spots. Who might get bumped from the rotation? “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Huntington said. “We’ve got guys who deserve to be in the rotation. We’ll have a challenging decision to make.”