Jose Tabata and Neil Walker are forcing Rookie of the Year voters to give them a look.
On Friday night at PNC Park, they ignited a pair of football jerseys
rallies and scored four runs in the Pirates' 8-5 victory against the Washington Nationals.
"They're fun to watch," manager John Russell said. "I'm glad they're finally getting on the radar, as far as rookies to watch."
If Russell had a vote, which of his two newbies would get it?
"Both," Russell said with a grin.
When Tabata and Walker reached base in the third, Garrett Jones drove them in. The rookies got on again in the fifth and Jones, Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Doumit followed with RBI hits.
Walker went 1 for 3, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games. He is one shy of becoming the first Pirates rookie switch-hitter to reach 100 hits in a season since Johnny Ray set the club mark with 182 in 1982.
Tabata singled twice, giving him 92 hits in 74 games since his June 9 promotion. He and Walker are on the verge of becoming the first pair of Pirates rookies to get 100 hits in a season since Tony Womack (178) and Jose Guillen (133) in 1997.
"It's great to be a part of this," said Walker, who like Tabata upped his batting average to .310. "And I'm looking forward to improving next year. I know we're capable of good things here."
Walker laughed when asked what he'd do with a Rookie of the Year ballot.
"Aw, I don't care," he said. "Those kind of things are great, but I feel better on nights when we get victories. We're playing pretty good baseball around here now. That's the most important thing."
At least one of Walker's teammates might be trying to sway the voters. Across the clubhouse, closer Joel Hanrahan emerged wearing a Pirates T-shirt with Walker's No. 18 and "Pittsburgh Kid" on the back.
"He's just messing with me," Walker said.
Pirates starter Zach Duke (7-12) struggled in three of his five-plus innings. The lefty allowed four runs Bills jersey
on five hits, walked three and struck out five.
Washington's Danny Espinosa began the third with a solo homer, his first in the majors. He was called up Wednesday after hitting 22 homers in 123 games with Triple-A Syracuse.
In the bottom of the inning, Ronny Cedeno doubled. He went to third on Duke's sacrifice bunt and scored on Andrew McCutchen's sacrifice fly.
Tabata's single to right kept the inning going. Walker walked — just his 20th free pass in 339 plate appearances.
"That's our job," Walker said. "We get on for guys like Jones and Alvarez. Those are the big drive-in (runs) guys. Neither of us is trying to do much more than set the table for those guys."
Jones smacked an opposite-field double to the North Side Notch, scoring Tabata and Walker. In the fourth, Doumit homered to right-center to make it 4-1.
The Pirates chased Livan Hernandez (9-10) while scoring four runs in the fifth. With one out, Tabata and Walker each singled. Jones followed with a blast off the top of the center-field wall — the ball missed going out by about three inches — for an RBI double.
Alvarez hit a laser to right-center for a two-run double. Former Pirate Miguel Batista replaced Hernandez and yielded Doumit's single, which scored Alvarez.
Duke left after putting the first four batters on base in the sixth. Sean Gallagher took over 49ers jersey
and gave up a pair of run-scoring hits.
"My control got a little bit erratic, and that got me into trouble," Duke said. "Fortunately, the offense did a good job."
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