Ke'Bryan Hayes scores game-winning run as Pirates beat Rockies

After an embarrassing loss that finished off a sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals, Derek Shelton challenged the Pittsburgh Pirates to play with more energy in their series against the Colorado Rockies.

When the Pirates continually put runners in scoring position but failed to generate runs, Ke’Bryan Hayes took matters into his own hands.

The Pirates third baseman led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a single, stole second base and advanced to third on a groundout before scoring the winning run on a Yoshi Tsutsugo two-out chopper to spark a 2-1 win Monday night before 8,376 at PNC Park.

“I felt like the Cardinals came in here and embarrassed us, especially (Sunday),” Hayes said. “It’s tough whenever you’re down, but there’s no excuses. You have to come in with the thought that it’s a 0-0 ballgame whenever you go up to hit. Shelty kind of had a word with us about that. I felt like that’s why the at-bats were a lot better.”

Tsutsugo, who entered the game batting .181, beat the throw to first by Rockies second baseman Brendan Rogers, allowing Hayes to score.

“Yoshi deserves a hit like that,” Shelton said. “He’s hit some balls hard and not gotten anything to show for it. But he deserved a knock like that.”

Hayes, who was batting .125 in the previous 10 games, proved to be the catalyst. He reached base four times against the Rockies, going 3 for 3 with an RBI double, two singles and a walk. Hayes was aware of Tyler Kinley’s timing and believed he could steal on him.

“I just wanted to get on,” Hayes said. “I knew, just knowing what his times were to home, that I would have a good chance of stealing if I got on. I was trying to get on any way I could — walk, single, stuff like that — then they were able to get me around.”

The win came against a battery of former Pirates players, as the Rockies started right-hander Chad Kuhl on the mound and Elias Diaz behind the plate.

A ninth-round pick in 2013 who spent five seasons with the Pirates, Kuhl was 5-7 with a 4.82 last year while splitting the season between the starting rotation and the bullpen. But he showed resistance to the relief role and was non-tendered last fall.

Kuhl returned to the rotation with the Rockies and entered Monday night’s game with a 3-2 record and 3.86 ERA in seven starts. He received a tribute video in his return to Pittsburgh, tipping his cap to the home dugout.

Then Kuhl got off to a rough start. He walked Ben Gamel, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, then gave up a double down the right field line to Hayes to score Gamel for a 1-0 lead in a 34-pitch first inning.

“Facing Kuhl, we kind of knew from seeing him, being behind him and watching him throw,” Hayes said. “We had a good idea of what we wanted to try to accomplish.”

Brubaker allowed only one (unearned) run, for which he was responsible. He walked Ryan McMahon to start the fourth, then made a throwing error to second on a grounder by Brendan Rodgers that allowed McMahon to reach third. McMahon tied it at 1-1 when he scored on a groundout by Randal Grichuk, who initially was ruled safe at first before the Pirates challenged and the call was overturned.

“I thought he was really good,” Shelton said of Brubaker. “I think he kind of built off the last start. He stayed in control. He gave up the one run because I think the hardest ball he threw all game was into center. Really commanded the ball well. I thought he pitched outstanding.”

The Pirates continued to struggle with runners in scoring position. Hayes and Reynolds were stranded at second and first base in the first inning, Jack Suwinski after a double in the second and Josh VanMeter following a triple in the fourth.

It didn’t help that Rodolfo Castro was thrown out attempting to steal second Diaz in the fourth. Castro injured his right hand when he slid past the bag and into the spikes of shortstop Jose Iglesias. Once the Pirates bandaged his hand to stop the bleeding, Castro remained in the game at shortstop.

When Gamel singled to left and Hayes drew a walk with one out in the fifth, the Rockies pulled Kuhl. He threw only 58 of his 103 pitches for strikes in 4⅓ innings, giving up five hits and four walks. Lefty Ty Blach got Reynolds to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to escape.

The Pirates finally appeared to score in the seventh when Castro hit a leadoff double, tagged to third on a Suwinski flyout and scored on a Michael Perez grounder to second. But the Rockies challenged the call by home plate umpire Jordan Baker — who signaled that Castro was safe — and, after video review, it was overturned.

“Diaz made a hell of a play,” Shelton said. “Throw was on the back side and short-hopped him. He was able to short hop, get back and he had to extend out over. You don’t see a lot of catchers make that play.”

Hayes led off the eighth with a single to right, then baited Rockies reliever Tyler Kinley by taking generous leads. Kinley threw to first multiple times in an attempt to hold Hayes, but he stole second anyway. Hayes advanced to third on Daniel Vogelbach’s groundout to second, then scored on Tsutusgo’s choppper to second for a 2-1 lead.

David Bednar escaped a jam in the eighth by getting Grichuk to pop out to short with runners on first and second. In the ninth, Diaz drew a two-out walk. The Rockies replaced him with pinch runner Garrett Hampson, but Bednar got Connor Joe to fly out to center for his ninth save.

“We manipulated, or manufactured a run,” Shelton said. “Sometimes, when you’re not going great offensively, things like that can kind of get you going a little bit. We started off well. We scored a couple hitters into the game with Key’s double, then left some guys on base. So to be able to win one where we didn’t bang the ball was important for us.”