SAN FRANCISCO — AT&T Park’s high right-field wall kept the first of Josh Bell’s three hits Monday night in the park, but if he were to hit one anywhere over there, he picked a good spot.
Bell drilled a double off the top of the wall in a narrow portion of the power alley that angles toward the foul line. The result was a carom away from Hunter Pence and the second of 10 Pirates runs.
In 19 games this month, Bell, the Pirates’ 24-year-old first baseman, has a .386 on-base percentage and .579 slugging percentage to go with a .329 average.
“He’s a confident man in the box,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s a dangerous hitter.”
Bell began the season 5 for 32. In the next 18 games he was 20 for 61 (.328) with eight extra-base hits. Then came an 18-for-104 (.173) stretch through early June. Since then he has hit .299 with seven home runs.
“He’s been swinging the bat with authority probably after about two weeks into the season,” Hurdle said. “I think his most barren spot might have been the beginning.”
Bell’s 18 home runs are tied with Andrew McCutchen for the most on the Pirates.
“We drafted a hitter out of high school. We believe we drafted a hitter out of high school and the kid’s done nothing other than go ahead and to go the plate with bad intentions,” Hurdle said. “He gets his swing off, he’s got a short memory.
“He’s been producing runs. I believe he’s a run producer. It’s not often that you can hit a rookie cleanup, and we’ve hit him there quite a bit this season.”
Strike zone issues
When facing an inconsistent strike zone, as the Pirates and San Francisco Giants did Monday night, the teams can only take so much action against it, Hurdle said.
“Sometimes a conversation from the manager can help, non-confrontational, sometimes the catchers usually have developed a relationship, maybe just a communication opportunity,” he said. “Nobody goes out there to not do the best job they can do and then some nights just get a little bit disconnected.”
Gerrit Cole and Matt Cain were displeased with home-plate umpire Chris Conroy’s strike zone at times. Conroy ejected Giants manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti for arguing balls and strikes.
“I haven’t reviewed every pitch,” Hurdle said. “I just know there was a lot of different thoughts that we had, from hitters to pitchers, from my hitters coming back, from my pitchers on the mound, from my catcher. It seemed to be a similar situation with the other team.”
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: July 26, 2017, 1:59 a.m.
