Gregory Polanco, Josh Bell homer as Pirates win home finale
This certainly wasn't meaningless win for Chad Kuhl and Josh Bell, young players who showed just how far they'd come.
Bell homered for the lead Wednesday night, and Kuhl showed his composure in the home finale, a 5-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at PNC Park. The Pirates already had settled for fourth place in the NL Central, but the pair gave the 24,779 who watched at least a little reason for optimism.
Gregory Polanco also homered, and closer Felipe Rivero's fastball reached 102.6 mph in a scoreless ninth for his 20th save.
This win was the Pirates' fourth in a row and their fifth in six games. But the rally comes after a stretch of 12 losses in 13 games, so players were packing stuff into cardboard boxes in the afternoon.
The Pirates finish their schedule with a four-game series in Washington.
“I definitely have a foundation now, something I can work off of this offseason and continue to grow and continue to learn,” said Bell, who went 3 for 4 with three RBIs. “Hopefully I'll come out next year strong instead of how I came out this year.”
His homer, two-run blast in the third, was the first baseman's 25th.
“I feel like I'm in a good spot,” said Bell, who drove Gabriel Ynoa's 84 mph pitch into the right-field seats to lead 4-3 in the third. “It's tough to follow up what Cutch did last night, but I'm happy with what I bring to the table. It's cool being a little one-two punch there.”
One night after Andrew McCutchen went 4 for 4, the center fielder reached base three times Wednesday, and Bell drove him in twice. Bell collected five hits in two games against the Orioles, snapping a 1 for 17 stretch.
“It's important for 'feel good,' ” manager Clint Hurdle said of Bell's success. “... He hasn't been getting hits. Timing has been off, hasn't been hitting the fastball like he was earlier. He's syncing back up really well the last two nights.”
Kuhl (8-11) also found a confidence boost with his second win in four starts.
“I took my lumps (early in the season),” Kuhl said. “I (showed) I have the ability to bounce back and go through a full season and go wire to wire.”
The right-hander allowed three runs on eight hits and one walk over five innings Wednesday. He struck out five in the 80-pitch outing and faced just one rough inning.
In the second, the Orioles scratched out three runs on four hits. After singles by Pedro Alvarez and Trey Mancini, Chance Sisco and Anthony Santander hit RBI doubles with a run-scoring groundout by J.J. Hardy in between. Hurdle saw Kuhl get mad but then calm down and pitch.
“There were sequences early on (this season when) he'd pitch mad,” Hurdle said. “He fell into one tonight after two well-placed hits early. He pitched mad for a little bit and got out of it. If he didn't get good results, he would try to throw harder. He doesn't need to throw harder. He throws plenty hard enough. ... He's just caught on to what he needs to do up here to be successful.”
Five Pirates relievers combined for four scoreless innings.
Among them, Edgar Santana forced two fly balls to escape a two-on jam in the fifth.
Ynoa (2-3), whose start lasted just three innings, allowed four runs on five hits and one walk.
The Pirates led 1-0 in the first on an RBI single by Bell that scored McCutchen.
Down 3-1, the Pirates hit homers in consecutive innings. The first was a solo shot to right by Polanco in the second. The homer was Polanco's 11th. In the third, Bell put the Pirates ahead again with a two-run homer to right that also scored McCutchen.
The Pirates added a run in the seventh when Sean Rodriquez hit a leadoff double and scored on a two-out single by Starling Marte.
Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.
