1 tricky play can't foul things up for Hayes

PITTSBURGH -- One fair or foul call nearly decided Monday night’s series opener against the D-backs at PNC Park.

But the Pirates did what they had to do to fight back, piecing together a big seventh inning to tie the game. Then, the man at the center of the tough break put the ball in play with the bases loaded to secure a 6-5 victory that was filled with a lot of positives for the growing Bucs.

With the bases loaded in the eighth via three walks, Ke'Bryan Hayes drew a 3-0 count against D-backs reliever Jake Faria, fouled off five pitches and grounded out to short for the winning RBI. Pittsburgh got back at the team that swept it out of Phoenix by bucking its shutout woes on Sunday in St. Louis and rallying late.

A ball hit to Hayes from David Peralta in the fifth inning was called fair, though Hayes believed it to be foul. Instead of stepping on the base or firing to first for the third out, he held onto the ball, then Christian Walker cleared the bases in the next at-bat.

“My initial thought was trying to get over to it for if it was on [the fair] side of the base,” Hayes said, “but then I saw it curving towards the foul line, so I was trying to get in front of the bag and grab it foul.”

Pirates video coordinator Kevin Roach told Hayes that the ball nicked off the bag, but it was such a subtle rebound that the third baseman didn’t even notice it at the moment.

Outside of that odd play, the left side of the Bucs’ infield defense was phenomenal, keyed by some clutch plays from Kevin Newman. The shortstop kept Walker from leading off the second inning with an infield hit to give Daulton Varsho a runner on base for his homer to center by making a superb jump throw that landed comfortably in first baseman Colin Moran’s mitt.

Then, in the ninth inning, Newman -- who had the fourth-best ultimate zone rating (4.0) in the Majors heading into Monday’s game -- ranged to the right side of the infield across the second-base bag and made his second whirling throw of the night. This one proved the most clutch, as it cut down the speedy Ketel Marte with one out in a one-run game.

“To go to his backhand side make the jump throw [in the second], then you guys in the box probably had a way better view than I did on that last play, but it looked like he was about 10 feet on the other side of second and he had to spin and be accurate,” manager Derek Shelton said. “I think he was definitely the difference in the game.”

Newman may have been the difference as much as Hayes, who outside of that tough infield single barely had a ball hit to him all night to redeem himself. But here’s how you know that one bad break won’t affect him: In the middle of the crucial 10-pitch at-bat in the eighth, Hayes treated it like he was just hitting in a low-leverage scenario. His mind was on his plan, not his situation.

“It's pretty easy, because I'm super even-keeled,” Hayes said. “It's almost like nobody was on base for me up there. I was just going up there with my plan and trying to execute that, and basically just trying to hit something through the middle of the field.”

For a team like the Pirates, who are young and building toward the future, learning how to fight through adversity at the Major League level is a big developmental point. Not only did Hayes and the offense have to fight through it, but so did Wil Crowe.

The right-hander had some of his best stuff, but a few missed locations and a pitch choice he wished he had back, which Walker hit for a bases-clearing single in the fifth, did his night -- and his pitching line -- in. But he also feels like he gave an outing to build off, and in the end, it’s about the team win.

​​”We got a little unlucky tonight,” Crowe said, “but the luck turned around, and that’s really all that matters. The guys fought back.”