Perrotto: It’s the Pennant Race and It’s a Lot of Fun

PITTSBURGH — Choosing the day the pennant race begins is arbitrary.

Some say the first game following the All-Star break while others believe Aug. 1. Old-school baseball people usually mark Aug. 15 as the start of the pennant race on their calendars.

I normally lean to Aug. 15.

However, the Pittsburgh Pirates are in contention no team’s fans deserve a pennant race more. So, let’s say the pennant race started on Friday night for the sake of those fans who were subjected to a lot of bad baseball the past five seasons.

The game between the Pirates and Diamondbacks certainly had the feel of a pennant race. There was plenty of excitement, tension and drama before the Diamondbacks won 9-8 in an entertaining matchup at PNC Park.

The Diamondbacks scored five runs in the top of the first inning off Luis Ortiz. Corbin Carroll led off her game with a Little League home run as he tripled and scored on shortstop Oneil Cruz’s throwing error. The next three batters hit real home runs over the fence, and it appeared the Pirates’ chances of winning were slim just four batters into the game.

However, the Pirates bounced back, taking a 7-6 lead with a four-run sixth inning. Cruz atoned for his error with a go-ahead single for his fourth hit on a 5-for-5 night.

The Diamondbacks eventually regained the lead and went ahead 9-7 in the top of the ninth. The Pirates, though, scored a run in the bottom of the inning to make it a one-run game before Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a comebacker to the mound for the final out.

For his part, Pirates manager Derek Shelton feels the pennant race started on July 19 when his team beat the best-in-baseball Philadelphia Phillies in the first game after the All-Star break.

“I don’t think it’s too early. You get in a situation with the team that’s above you, a team we just played, a team that played in the World Series, is really good …” Shelton said. “Games are important, that’s why I was proud of our group for continuing to battle back. We’ve just got to finish that game.”

The loss dropped the Pirates 3.5 games out of the third National League wild card. It’s not a big deficit with 53 games remaining.

The Atlanta Braves hold the first wild spot while the Diamondbacks are second and San Diego Padres third. The New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals are between the Padres and Pirates in the standings.

Friday began a big stretch of games for the Pirates as they play two more games against the Diamondbacks this weekend then conclude the six-game homestand with three games against the Padres next week. The Pirates then play three games on the road against the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers and Padres.

“I think we need to individualize each game,” Shelton said. “We need to separate each game.”

Pennant races are usually full of highs and lows and ups and downs. That was the case on Friday night.

“It definitely feels close to (a pennant race), for sure,” Cruz said. “And when all the teams are really close to each other, every day counts, and we want to give the best of ourselves.”

If every day is like Friday, it could be a fun couple of months at PNC Park.