ST. LOUIS -- The league appears to have begun making adjustments to Ke'Bryan Hayes, trying to force tougher at-bats on a rookie who blazed through Major League pitchers in September 2020.

“I think people are making a little bit of adjustments to him,” manager Derek Shelton said earlier this week, “and we're very confident that he'll make an adjustment back.”

Hayes has had a slight tailing off in his production in recent weeks. Yet all the while, he continued to be a threat in the No. 2 spot, and his production has picked up mightily in the past few days.

Hayes ran his Major League-leading active on-base streak to 29 games with a single in the first inning of the Pirates’ 5-4 victory over the Cardinals on Friday night at Busch Stadium. That was just the start for Hayes, as he closed with two hits and a walk -- the third game in a row he’s done that, showing Shelton’s confidence is well-placed.

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Before this three-game burst, Hayes hit .209 over 12 games, yet he grinded out at-bats during that span and drew six walks to keep his on-base streak intact and impacted games with more than his exceptional defense.

“I think the one thing that stood out is even when he wasn’t having that quality hard contact every time, like we kind of got used to, he was having good at-bats and still continuing to play good defense and run the bases well,” Shelton said. “I think that’s the sign of a really good player. They don’t let one side affect the other.”

Hayes’ on-base streak is the longest by a Pirates player since Jason Bay reached base safely in the same amount of games in 2005. Per Elias, Hayes’ streak is the longest by a Pirates rookie since Hall of Famer Arky Vaughan’s on-base streak of 33 games in 1932.

It’s not much of an understatement to say as Hayes goes, the Pirates go. The team went 3-9 when he hit .209 from the No. 2 spot in the batting order. Given that Adam Frazier and Bryan Reynolds are hitting like wild, having Hayes get on base in between them is a huge driver of the offense’s scoring capability.

Though Hayes has traded some doubles and homers for singles in recent days, he’s still content with his approach and doing what he knows is best for the team: Reaching base safely, no matter how it’s done.

“That’s what we’re trying to do -- each batter, trying to put together good at-bats and move runners around,” Hayes said.

Crowe’s first victory

Wil Crowe did not have his best stuff on Friday night, he admitted. What he did have, though, was the ability to battle through five innings. Thanks to that, he got to celebrate his first Major League win.

Crowe gave up four runs over five innings in St. Louis, and it was that fifth inning that he felt was not only a turning point in the game, but was potentially a confidence-builder going forward.

“[Pitching coach Oscar Marin] kind of sat with me for a second and said, ‘Hey, the fifth is yours, and this is going to be big for your career. And this is a building block,’” Crowe said. “He said, ‘If you have a quick one, you might even go back out for the sixth.’”

That didn’t happen, as the Pirates turned their lineup over to the bottom third heading into the sixth, and in a one-run game, offense was at a premium. But Crowe was happy to throw a 1-2-3 fifth inning and turn it over to “the dogs in the bullpen,” who locked down four scoreless innings.

“That’s an accomplishment that I’ve been working towards,” Crowe said. “Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a big leaguer. When I figured out I was going to be a pitcher, I wanted to be a big league pitcher. And you want to get your first win and your first strikeout. And that stuff means a lot to us.”