Polanco's perfect throw(s)
PITTSBURGH — Gregory Polanco saw one of the fastest players in baseball standing at third and knew there was little margin for error.
A month ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder might not have had a shot at throwing out Colorado’s Jose Reyes. Now things are different. The talented, but still raw, right fielder is maturing nearly as quickly as his surging team is racking up victories.
Polanco’s throw easily beat Reyes to the plate to preserve a tie in the eighth and he added an insurance run after Josh Harrison put the Pirates in front in the bottom of the inning as Pittsburgh escaped with a 5-3 victory Friday night.
“He’s refining his routine through his practice, and he is nailing it in games,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “In high-leverage situations he is nailing them.”
The 23-year-old finished with three hits, an RBI that provided the final margin and two outfield assists. The first caught Nick Hundley in a rundown between first and second in the fifth. The second was a low laser that gave catcher Francisco Cervelli plenty of time to tag Reyes as the four-time All-Star tried to slide by.
“I just tried to put a good throw, throw it in the right direction, that’s the first thing,” Polanco said. “You try to throw it anywhere else, you’ve got no chance.”
The momentum helped carry the Pirates to their 13th win in their last 16 games as they try to keep pace with St. Louis in the hyper competitive NL Central. Harrison came on as a pinch-hitter and lined a single off Scott Oberg (3-3) to score Cervelli and put Pittsburgh in front, the first run given up by the Colorado bullpen in 18 2-3 innings.
Polanco followed with a single as Pittsburgh improved to 20-4 against the NL West, though his arm is becoming as effective as his bat at times.
“I’m sure the scouting report says something,” Harrison said. “They keep testing him. But if they keep testing him they’ll get the same result and I’m cool with it.”
Tony Watson (3-1) earned the win thanks to Polanco’s throw. Mark Melancon worked a perfect ninth for his major league-leading 42nd save. Pittsburgh relievers have won 18 straight decisions since last taking a loss on June 25.
Reyes hit his third home run of the season for Colorado and manager Walt Weiss had no problem with Reyes’ decision to dart for home on the shallow fly ball by Nolan Arenado.
“I was glad he took off, it took a great throw by Polanco,” Weiss said. “It was right on the money and it wasn’t real deep but I thought certainly deep enough for Reyes to take a shot.”
Carlos Gonzalez added his 31st homer but the Rockies dropped their sixth straight game to the Pirates at PNC Park.
Gray’s Anatomy
Colorado rookie starter Jon Gray improved over his miserable start against the New York Mets last week, when the former first-round draft pick gave up seven runs without getting out of the second inning.
While he was hardly crisp — he went over his initial 75-pitch allotment by throwing 89 before leaving with one out in the fifth — he avoided major trouble by striking out Neal Walker with the bases loaded to end the third.
“I was OK with it,” Gray said. “It was a lot of stuff I can’t control but I think I was battling pretty well.”
Streaking Liriano
Pittsburgh improved to 11-0 in Francisco Liriano’s last 11 starts since being on the other end of Washington’s Max Scherzer’s no-hitter on June 20, the second-longest unbeaten stretch by a Pittsburgh starter in 42 years.
He had no major worries until Reyes’ two-run shot off the foul pole in the fifth and a long solo homer to center.
