Pirates host Cardinals to open season
PITTSBURGH — The Pirates compiled a lackluster 59-65 record in the month of April during Clint Hurdle’s first five seasons as manager.
So Hurdle decided to try to do something about it as he enters his sixth season. He had the Pirates ramp up defensive and fielding drills early in spring training and told his players to take the exhibition games more seriously.
Judging solely from the Pirates’ won-loss record in the Grapefruit League, the change in approach didn’t seem to make a difference. The Pirates left Florida with a dismal 8-20 mark after beating the Tampa Bay Rays 13-8 in their final game Thursday at Port Charlotte.
The Pirates’ record, of course, resets to 0-0 on Sunday afternoon when they host the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park to open the 2016 Major League Baseball season. Left-hander Francisco Liriano (12-7, 3.38 last season) will make his third consecutive opening day start for the Pirates as he faces Adam Wainwright (2-1, 1.61).
Despite the lack of spring wins, Hurdle believes the sharper focus will pay off as the Pirates attempt to get out of the gate strong in their pursuit of a fourth consecutive postseason berth.
“You’re asking (the players) to do something they haven’t done,” Hurdle said this past week as spring training wound down in Bradenton. “I’ve just got to remind them. It’s a different mindset. Everybody’s asking, what are you going to do different? Well, we’ve done a number of things different. And one of them is to help them recreate a different mindset.
“Nobody is more aware of how we start the season than us. We haven’t had a consistently good April since I’ve been here. We need to find a way to connect the dots in an offensive side of the ball with more frequency. We want to play consistent baseball for six months.”
The Pirates started slowly last year as they went 12-10 in April and were just 26-24 at the end of May. They then had the best record in the major leagues from June 1 on, going 72-40 to finish 98-64.
“Winning 98 games is a helluva year but you can’t help but wonder how many more games we would have won if we had got off to a good start,” shortstop Jordy Mercer said. “We would have won at least 100 games and probably more.”
The Pirates still had the second-best record in the major leagues, yet wound up finishing second to the Cardinals (100-62) in the National League Central. Because they did not win the division, the Pirates were forced to play in the winner-take-all wild card and lost to the Chicago Cubs, another division rival.
St. Louis and Pittsburgh have ended up 1-2 in the division in each of the last three seasons. The Cardinals edged the Pirates 10-9 in the season series last year and hold a 30-27 advantage over the last three seasons, though they are just 10-19 at PNC Park in that span.
Liriano is 5-2 with a 2.58 ERA against the Cardinals in 12 career starts. Wainwright is 11-6 with 4.29 ERA against the Pirates in 28 games, including 23 starts.
While the Pirates look to start fast, Liriano is hoping to finish strong and pitch 200 innings for the first time in his 11-year career. His career high is 191 2/3 in 2010 with the Minnesota Twins.
“I want to be able to last longer in games, take some pressure off the bullpen and be a pitcher the team can rely on every fifth day to eat up innings,” Liriano said.