Cup of Joe: Starkey on sports in 400 words or less (sometimes more)
By at least one measurement, Brandon Lowe came into Tuesday’s game as the hottest Pirates hitter since Honus Wagner 125 years ago — and nobody would think about pinch-hitting for Honus Wagner with a game on the line.
So what in the world was Pirates manager Don Kelly thinking when he pinch hit for Lowe?
Yes, Lowe struggles against lefties, but he is so piping hot (11 RBIs in the past three games) that he homered off one in the first inning Tuesday. The man could hit blindfolded against Randy Johnson right now. Kelly wouldn’t let him face Cionel Perez.
No Pirate hitter since Wagner had notched back-to-back five-RBI games before Lowe did it Sunday and Monday. And he didn’t exactly slow down Tuesday. He ranks second in the majors in home runs (seven), just ahead of Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber, and only five players have a higher OPS than Lowe’s 1.076.
Did I mention he has 11 RBIs in the past three games?
You simply do not pull a player that hot, but here’s what happened with one out, bases loaded and the Pirates trailing by a run in the bottom of the seventh: Kelly lifted Lowe for Nick Yorke.
Let me repeat that.
KELLY LIFTED LOWE FOR NICK YORKE!
Clearly, with a left-hander on the mound and Perez likely coming in, Kelly was thinking about Lowe’s struggles against lefties. Lowe is just 3 for 21 against them this season after hitting .194 against them last season. But he did homer off lefty JP Poulin earlier, and Perez is lugging an 8.22 ERA after clocking in at 8.31 last season.
Also, it’s not like Yorke is smashing lefties. He’s now 2 for 14 against them with four strikeouts.
So, to review:
• Lowe is hitting .143 against lefties with six strikeouts.
• Yorke is hitting .143 against lefties with four strikeouts.
Yorke also had gone 0 for 6 on Monday and was hitless in his previous nine at-bats, though in this situation he managed to hit a hard grounder that unfortunately became an inning-ending double play.
Lowe, being a good teammate, defended the decision, telling reporters it’d be a different discussion if Yorke’s ball had found a hole.
I suppose it would be, but there’s more to the story (see below), and if we take Lowe at his word, does he think it’d be smart to remove him against lefties in the late innings all the time? Because I’m telling you, there is a whole world of lefties better than Perez, or Mitchell Parker if he’d stayed in the game.
Kelly’s explanation: “It was strategic. Just felt like (going with) Yorke right there, as far as contactibility. You know, if that ball goes five feet one way or another … he hit it 102 right up the middle, right at the second baseman.”
True enough, but here’s the rest of the story: It seemed quite possible that Lowe’s spot in the order would come up again, and it did — with two outs and two on in the ninth, including Billy Cook as the winning run on first. And instead of Honus Wagner, you had Nick Yorke again, and this time he popped out against right-hander Gus Varland to end the game.
This isn’t really about Yorke, though. He’s had a nice start. It’s about pulling an All-Star second baseman in the midst of a historic streak and depriving him of two at-bats in what became a gut-punch loss.
Kelly has done a good job this season. There were other reasons the Pirates lost. But when you have a hitter as hot as Lowe, you don’t overthink it. You let him hit.
Period.
