Pittsburgh Pirates: Did Successful Road Trip Save The Season?
By Matt Shetler
If the 2014 Pittsburgh Pirates’ regular season ends anything like the 2013 version did, Clint Hurdle‘s team can look back at the last 10 games as a potential turning point.
Despite dropping the final game of their 10-game road trip on Wednesday to the San Diego Padres in bizarre fashion, Pirates manager Hurdle has to love where his team is at right now.
Hurdle and company, along with Pirates fans, have to be thrilled with a 6-4 road trip that saw them take three of four from the Los Angeles Dodgers and two of three from the Friars. All in all, that’s a 5-2 mark on the west coast against two teams the Bucs tend to fare very lousy against.
Coming home with a winning record on the road trip is especially impressive after dropping two of three contests to the New York Mets and even more impressive that before this trip the Pirates were a mere 6-14 away from PNC Park.
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I said before the Bucs left town that the Pirates should be thrilled if they could come back from this 10-game swing 5-5, but they did one better. This road trip likely could have saved the Pirates’ season.
Had they won just two or three games, the Pirates season likely would have been all but over as they prepare for a three-game series against the National League Central leading Milwaukee Brewers beginning Friday night at PNC Park.
Instead the Pirates come home only three games under .500 (28-31) and winners of 10 of their past 15 overall.
Throw in the fact that they have closed the gap on the Brewers to 6.5 games and are 2.5 games behind the second-place St. Louis Cardinals and you have to like the spot the Bucs are in.
Even better is the fact that the Pirates are now in the thick of the wild-card race, sitting a mere 2.5 games behind the Cardinals and Miami Marlins for the top spot.
After the Pirates looked awful in dropping two of three to the Mets, their season looked like it was on a brink heading into Los Angeles.
Now it looks like the fun is just about to begin.
Only time will tell if the Pirates can maintain the momentum they have built up over the next couple of weeks. But if they do, we ultimately can look back at this last road trip as a season-saver – and one that hopefully will springboard the Bucs to bigger and better things.