Spent three days and nights at the ballpark this week trying to excogitate the natural mystery of the 2018 Pirates, with predictably mixed results, because if anything defines Clint Hurdle’s team at the start of what could be a very long baseball summer, it’s mixed results.
But Wednesday, in the middle the most ridiculous episode of a seven-game stretch in which they lost 10-8, won 11-9 and lost 8-7, the Pirates made a play so singularly splendid it again propped up the fading notion that they could cling to relevance.
Sixth inning, one out, Austin Barnes of the Los Angeles Dodgers on first base, Pirates leading 8-7 behind Steven Brault, the second of six Pittsburgh pitchers on a night L.