PITTSBURGH - September has brought better results for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the lineup still has a few guys with plenty left to prove before the season ends.
The club has cleaned up its offensive struggles from August and is swinging the bats much better as a group, going 8-4 this month. That run has included series wins over the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles at home, plus a sweep of the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field. Pittsburgh is back at .500 at 75-75, though it remains seven games out in the National League Wild Card race with 12 games to play.
Even with the postseason math looking long, the Pirates can still keep building momentum if a few key hitters close strong.
Spencer Horwitz is one of them. He came back at the start of August after dealing with both a left hamstring injury and a concussion, but the bat never really took off right away.
In 21 games last month, Horwitz hit .141/.221/.154 with an OPS of .375, finishing with 11 hits in 78 at-bats, one extra-base hit, five RBI and six walks against 18 strikeouts. Among qualified hitters, he posted the second-worst slugging percentage and OPS, along with the third-worst batting average and on-base percentage.
There has been a small step forward in September, with Horwitz hitting .243/.317/.243 for an OPS of .560. That’s better, but still nowhere near the level he showed earlier in the year.
Before the injury, he was a major piece of Pittsburgh’s offense, hitting .280/.386/.455 for an .841 OPS over the first three months. The Pirates need that version of Horwitz back.
He has been working with hitting coach Matt Hague, who has helped keep his confidence up while Horwitz sorts through what needs to change and what doesn’t.
"Both," Horwitz said after an 8-2 win over the White Sox on Sept. 8.
"Trying to figure out what’s gonna work and some days I feel like I should make changes and I feel like I should say “Screw it” and go hit, but yeah, this is all a learning curve for me. Something good’s going to come out of it and I’m excited to learn what that is.”
Konnor Griffin is in a similar spot, only with the added challenge of getting back into the rhythm after a two-month absence. The rookie shortstop returned on Sept. 4 after missing time with a left ring sagittal band injury, and the energy has been there from the jump. In his first game back, a 1-0 win over the Angels at PNC Park, Griffin scored all the way from first on a single.
The production at the plate, though, has lagged behind the flashes. Griffin is hitting .167/.211/.250 with an OPS of .461, with six hits in 36 at-bats, two walks, nine strikeouts, a double and a triple. He still has two weeks left to show the bat that made him such a promising rookie in the first place.
Ryan O'Hearn is the third hitter with something to prove down the stretch, and his season has also been interrupted by injury. He strained his left quad on July 31 and didn’t return until the Pirates’ most recent series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field from Sept.
11-13. He did give Pittsburgh a lift on Sept. 12, launching a three-run homer that put the Pirates ahead 3-2 in the sixth inning.
That should have stood up as the winner, but Gregory Soto lost control in the eighth and the Pirates fell 4-3.
O'Hearn has only one hit in 10 at-bats since returning, and his second half has been a sharp drop from what he did before the break. After the All-Star break, he has hit .159/.217/.286 for an OPS of .503.
Before that, he was at .288/.351/.487 with an .838 OPS. With 12 games left, he has a chance to turn that around and give the Pirates something positive to carry forward.
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