What’s Been the Difference for Yasmani Grandal’s Turnaround?

PITTSBURGH — Yes, part of the reason the Pittsburgh Pirates brought in seasoned veteran Yasmani Grandal to help manage a young pitching staff.

The Pirates signed Grandal as a free agent in the offseason to a one-year contract. The 35-year-old already had 12 seasons under his belt and has worked with the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Kenley Jansen and numerous other high-quality pitchers.

But Grandal also had a pretty extensive track record at the plate in the big leagues throughout his career, even with back-to-back down seasons the last two years.

It’s another reason why the Pirates brought in Grandal after he spent the the past four seasons in Chicago with the White Sox — to provide some thump to the lineup. Only 20 catchers have more career home runs than Grandal, who now has 190 in his after hitting a big home run in the Pirates’ 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Seattle jumped out to a 2-0 lead against Paul Skenes and the Pirates on a Luke Raley two-run shot in the top of the fourth. The Pirates quickly answered with a run in the bottom of the frame before Grandal’s homer in the fifth tied the game. The Pirates took the lead later on in the inning and never looked back.

“Obviously, it always feels good to put your team back in the game,” he said following the win. “We were able to start getting guys on base and we were able to get (Taylor) in after that big two-run homer from Raley. Us being able to take the lead the next inning kind of changed the momentum back towards our side. That’s all you’re trying to do is just grab the momentum later in the game. That’s how you end up on top.”

Grandal missed the majority of spring training and didn’t make his season debut until May 4 due to a case of plantar fasciitis. It took a while to get going, but Grandal has been producing at a much higher level at the plate in recent weeks.

In 15 games since July 5, Grandal is batting .295 (13 for 44) with four doubles, three home runs, five RBIs and has only struck out eight times in 52 plate appearances.

While his numbers are still well below par, he’s raised his OPS by over 130 points with his current hot stretch.

Grandal hasn’t necessarily made any major adjustments at the plate. The Pirates’ backstop feels like he’s simply finding his footing — no pun intended.

“It’s hard to come into a big league season and treat it almost like a spring training,” he explained. “You need the at-bats. You need the repetition … It’s just pretty much been that.”

Grandal’s big night on Wednesday came at a time when his team needed it the most, and it really came as no surprise given his performance over the last five or six weeks.

Entering play, the Pirates were mired in an abysmal stretch, having lost 10 in a row and 12 of their last 13 games overall.

The Pirates dipped from the heart of contention in the wild card race and tied for second in the division, though a substantial distance away from the National League-leading Milwaukee Brewers. At the start of last homestand, the Pirates were only 2.5 games out of a wild card spot, but even after Friday night’s win, find themselves seven games off the pace.

It looks improbable, but understandably, Grandal isn’t pulling the plug on the Pirates’ season. After the team was able to take a collective breath after finally getting back into the win column, he’s hoping the Pirates have another run left in them.

“We won today. We got to concentrate on tomorrow,” said Grandal. “I know (Seattle is) gonna come out ready to win a game. They’re obviously doing a really good job trying to make a push for the playoffs. We just need to go on a run. You never know what can happen with a month and a half left. A lot of things can happen in a month and a half.”