Pirates Top Brewers Behind Gregory Polanco’s Four Hits

Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Gregory Polanco had a big day at the plate and a nice assist to cut down a baserunner at the plate as the Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 at PNC Park July 17th. The Pirates won for the eighth time in their last 10 games and were six games behind the Brewers in the National League Central race.

The Pirates were only given an outside shot, if at all, on reaching the post season this year after a disappointing 2016 campaign when they finished 78-83 after going 98-64 in 2015, qualifying for the playoffs as a Wild Card. There was speculation that the Pirates might retool and trade Andrew McCutcheon after a subpar 2016 season. But McCutcheon is having a pretty good bounce back season, hitting .294 with 17 homers and 51 RBIs. And speedy outfielder Starling Marte returns from an 80 game suspension for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Last year, Marte hit .311 and stole 47 bases. So now the question is will Pittsburgh try to make a run of it the N.L. Central, or become sellers at the trade deadline and begin revamping the team?