Harrison always smiling … and optimistic
PITTSBURGH — The always-smiling Josh Harrison admits that missing nearly two months of the season is going to be difficult.
However, the fact that Harrison underwent surgery Wednesday to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb has not knocked the smile off his face.
“I take the positives out of everything,” Harrison said when he rejoined the team before Friday night’s game with the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park. “I always look at it as, it could have been worse. I put things in perspective to know that people out there have it worse than me.
“There are some guys that have had Tommy John (elbow ligament replacement surgery) that are out a year and a half. There’s really no need for me to get bent out of shape when I have an opportunity to come back this year and help make a playoff push.”
Harrison injured the thumb last Sunday when he slid headfast while stealing second base in a win over the Cleveland Indians. Harrison also cut his right wrist on the slide and initially thought that was a more significant injury than the thumb.
“I thought it was the best precaution to come out because I didn’t want to go out there and try to squeeze my glove,” Harrison said. “After a couple opinions, surgery was what was suggested.”
The injury is expected to keep Harrison out through at least the end of August but he said he won’t alter his style of play much when he does return.
“What I will do is take some precautions, start running bases with the (protective) mitt, but other than that I don’t think it’s anything I need to change,” Harrison said. “When you change the way you play, you’ve got a tendency of getting hurt even more when you play cautious.”
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With a 13-2 record, right-hander Gerrit Cole is on pace to become the first Pirates’ pitcher to win 20 games since John Smiley finished 20-8 in 1991.
Just four major league franchises have gone longer without a 20-game winner — Baltimore, Kansas City, Milwaukee and San Diego.
What stands out the most about the Pirates’ 24-year drought of 20-game winners is that no pitcher has even made a serious run at reaching that milestone since Smiley.
In fact, no one has won more than 16 games since 1991. A.J. Burnett went 16-10 in 2012 and Francisco Liriano was 16-8 in 2013.
Furthermore, just two Pirates pitchers have won 15 games during that span — Doug Drabek was 15-11 in 1992 and Todd Ritchie was 15-9 in 1999.
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Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Pedro Alvarez’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning on Monday night against the San Diego Padres was just his second walk-off hit of his six-year career.
The other came during his rookie season on Aug. 7, 2010 when he hit a three-run home run off Colorado’s Huston Street in the 10th inning.
Alvarez is a .188 lifetime hitter in late-and-close situations, going 71-for-378 in plate appearances that are defined as coming in the seventh inning or later, with the batter’s team tied or trailing by one to three runs, or trailing by four runs with two or more runners on base.
That is the lowest among major league hitters who have had a minimum of 400 plate appearances in those situations since records are first available in 1914.