Gregory Polanco’s at-bat of the season

Max Scherzer overwhelmed the Pirates on June 20th in throwing his first no-hitter and just missing out on a perfect game but it was the Pirates who would get revenge Friday night in a 7-5 win over the Nationals.

Pedro Alvarez, Gregory Polanco and Neil Walker all homered off Scherzer with Polanco and Walker delivering back-to-back jacks in the 5th inning as the Pirates went from trailing 4-2 to jumping ahead 5-4 in a matter of minutes in the 5th.

Gregory Polanco’s 2-run homer in the 5th to tie the game at 4-4 was not only the at-bat of Polanco’s career but maybe the at-bat of season in all of baseball.

The 12 pitch at-bat for Polanco was a positive sign of his ability to make a great pitcher in Scherzer pay for a mistake in leaving a fastball right down the middle.

I just made some mistakes and they made me pay for it,” Scherzer said.

“He made a mistake. He left it in the middle of the plate,” Polanco told reporters afterwards.

Polanco’s crucial at-bat opened the flood gates with Walker following up the Polanco at-bat with a solo home run and the Pirates adding two runs in the 6th. Polanco pushed the Pirates lead to 7-5 in the 6th with an RBI single, capping off a 3 RBI night for him.

The Pirates are kicking tires on right field options (more so 4th outfielder options) but they don’t have the stomach to pay a premium for a rental because they feel Polanco has the talent to put it all together at any point.