Hello, Newman! Rookie delivers 1st walk-off hit

PITTSBURGH -- They may not have shown it much before Saturday, but the Pirates believed there was more power in their lineup this season. They’ve come to expect more out of Josh Bell, for instance, and Kevin Newman has come to expect more of himself.

Their faith was rewarded on Saturday afternoon, when Bell went 3-for-5 with a trio of extra-base hits and Newman ripped a walk-off double to the gap in left-center field in the 10th inning of the Pirates’ 6-5 win over the Reds at PNC Park. Newman’s first walk-off hit in the Majors sealed Pittsburgh’s third straight victory.

“That was amazing. That’s your dream as a little kid,” Newman said, smiling after having his jersey all but ripped off and a cooler dumped over his head during the Pirates’ celebration on the field. “To have everyone out there acting like little kids, too, we’re all just so happy and so pumped to get the win.”

Newman struggled last season in his big league debut. After losing 10-15 pounds during the Triple-A season, he was overpowered and overmatched in the Majors. He regained that weight over the winter and tweaked his swing this spring. Although he didn’t win the starting shortstop job, he earned a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Before Saturday’s game, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said this year’s team, “as much as any we’ve had, is going to need contributions from everybody.” So it seemed fitting that Newman, starting at second base in place of Adam Frazier, drove in Francisco Cervelli -- the last man off the bench as a pinch-hitter -- with a double off Reds closer Raisel Iglesias.

“It kind of played itself out today,” Hurdle said afterward. “We had a lot of contributions from different places.”

The biggest contributions came from Bell. He recorded only four hits in the first six games of the season, none of them for extra bases, but the Pirates showed their belief by batting him cleanup every day. He’s been hitting the ball hard, too, even if he had nothing to show for it. He entered Saturday ranking in the 92nd percentile of all Major League hitters in average exit velocity (94.3 mph) and hard-hit rate (55.6 percent).

Bell boosted those numbers with his performance against the Reds by recording three extra-base hits in a game for the first time in his career.

“What I like the most is just the way he’s staying with things, committing to things, not getting too high, not getting low. He’s becoming more of a professional with his at-bats,” Hurdle said. “There’s real power, and we believe it’s going to come out.”

After Jason Martin recorded his first Major League hit and stolen base in the first inning, Bell drove in the rookie with a double to center field. When the ball landed between right fielder Yasiel Puig and center fielder Scott Schebler, Bell felt like he could exhale.

“I was like, ‘OK, today might be a good day,’” he said. “Just happy to build off of that, and hopefully I can continue to do that in the future.”

He doubled again in the third, bouncing a 104.8-mph line drive over the left-field fence. That hit moved Colin Moran to third base, and Moran immediately scored on a groundout by Melky Cabrera.

Bell came to the plate in the fifth with the Pirates trailing by two and blasted the first pitch he saw from Reds starter Tanner Roark at 108 mph, according to Statcast, and sent it a projected 431 feet into the center-field seats.

After seeing his home run total decline from 26 in 2017 to 12 last year, you might think Bell is putting more pressure on himself to go deep. But his focus is on maintaining a good approach and hitting the ball hard. He did both on Saturday.

“If I can hit the ball off the sweet spot, good things are going to happen,” Bell said. “The pressure’s just on myself to have quality at-bats, team at-bats, then the power’s going to be there and the RBIs are going to be there if I’m squaring the ball up.”

After a pair of shutouts by Pittsburgh’s pitching staff, starter Trevor Williams allowed four runs (three earned) over six innings and setup man Keone Kela gave up a game-tying homer to Joey Votto in the eighth. This time, the Pirates lineup picked up their pitchers.

“That’s awesome. Kind of flipped the narrative a little bit,” Bell said. “Inning after inning, we’re coming back and creating the game. For us to close it out like that was something special.”