It’s probably safe to say that when Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton elected to intentionally walk Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes with two outs in the top of the third inning and runners at the corners and his team trailing 2-1 on Thursday afternoon at PNC Park, he was playing the percentages that the next batter, Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urías, would be an easy third out to end the threat; this despite the fact that by intentionally loading the bases, he was putting two runners in scoring position rather than just one. It’s also probably safe to say that Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton may soon be looking for a new job.

Instead of being the automatic third out that Shelton was hoping for (and counting on), Urías, on a 2-2 count, laced a sharp single into right-center field, scoring both of those aforementioned runners in scoring position to give the Dodgers a then 4-1 lead in the eventual 6-3 Dodgers win over Shelton’s (now) 23-38 NL Central last-place Pirates.

“When I had two strikes I thought I’d go up there and try to shorten my swing and try to make contact,” Urías told reporters through an interpreter after the game. “I was looking for something a little bit soft, I got that pitch, and I picked it up.”

Although Shelton’s decision to intentionally load the bases in front of Urías wasn’t entirely flawed logic, the second-year manager apparently chose to ignore the fact that the 24-year Culiacan, Mexico native already had four hits on the season – including one double – in his previous 22 at-bats for a .182 batting average. But what should have been a red flag for the Pirates skipper is that Urías also had five RBI coming into that at-bat.

While it might be a reach to consider Urías a power threat with the bat, he generally makes contact, having struck in only six of those previous 22 at-bats (27.27%). But with his MLB-best 9-2 record, it seems only fair to put him into the ‘pitchers-who-rake’ category. Better still, with his (now) seven RBI and (now) .208 batting average, into the ‘rakers-who-pitch’ category.

Play Ball!

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