Full Count: Difference between Pirates under Don Kelly, Derek Shelton a tale of 2 1st halves

As the Pittsburgh Pirates approach the halfway point of the season, it feels like they already have played two halves: one with Derek Shelton as manager and another under the direction of Don Kelly.

Where Shelton was fired May 8 amid a 12-26 start — a .316 winning percentage — Kelly has had the Pirates hovering around .500. Through Friday, they had an 18-21 record.

“I think we’ve, for the most part, played pretty good baseball,” Kelly said. “Consistent.”

That improvement hasn’t pushed the Pirates out of last place in the National League Central — where they have slipped from 10 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs to 16 games back — but is more noticeable in some other numbers.

After going 7-12 at PNC Park under Shelton, the Pirates were 12-8 at home under Kelly entering Saturday. And they are clearly more competitive under Kelly, going 9-10 in the 19 of his first 39 games that were decided by one run.

That Shelton started the season on the hot seat and was managing for his survival put pressure on the Pirates to win early, even after they lost starting pitcher Jared Jones (elbow) and first baseman Spencer Horwitz (wrist) to injuries in spring training and second baseman Nick Gonzales to a fractured left ankle on Opening Day.

That Kelly played parts of nine seasons in the big leagues — Shelton never advanced above Single-A — gave him instant credibility in the clubhouse. And it helped that he was promoted from bench coach to manager for the remainder of the season, with no interim tag.

“I think everyone is a bit looser, more relaxed,” said Pirates left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter, who called himself a “fan of DK” but noted that he liked Shelton, too. “I just think DK having gone through it before, being a major-league player, he’s got a lot of feel. That’s the biggest thing for us. He’s got a lot of feel around the clubhouse, let us do our thing and go out there and play. It’s been pretty nice so far. Guys are loose, laughing, having a good time.”

Kelly’s impact is most evident in the performance of the pitching staff. Under Kelly, the Pirates are tied for the MLB lead in fewest home runs allowed and rank second in hits, batting average-against (.216), WHIP (1.12) and batting average on balls in play (.256), are tied for fourth in runs allowed (131) and tied for fifth in ERA (3.32) and quality starts (19).

Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen has been impressed with Kelly’s understanding of the game and feel for situations. He pointed to Kelly’s bullpen management in his Pirates managerial debut May 9 against the Atlanta Braves as an example.

The Pirates had righty reliever Chase Shugart on the mound with a three-run lead and two outs in the seventh inning. After Shugart walked Michael Harris II, McCutchen wondered whether the Braves would go with a left-handed pinch hitter. When the Braves brought in Alex Verdugo, Kelly had lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson warming up in the bullpen. Ferguson struck out Verdugo to end the frame in the 3-2 win.

“For me, that was one of the times where with DK I was like, ‘OK, he’s thinking it,’ ” said McCutchen, a 17-year veteran. “Obviously, I’ve been around it for a while and I’m thinking this stuff, that we should have someone ready. I’m looking and, boom, someone’s ready.”

Kelly credited the input and game planning of his coaching staff — which includes adviser Gene Lamont, third-base coach Mike Rabelo, infield coach Chris Truby and pitching coaches Oscar Marin and Brent Strom — for taking everything into account while going through a game.

“We’re really trying to put the players in the best position possible for them to be successful,” Kelly said, “which, in turn, is going to help us as a team be successful.”

The offense is another story.

Under Shelton, the Pirates ranked 25th or lower in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, doubles, home runs, runs scored and RBIs. Those numbers remain stagnant under Kelly’s leadership. Their batting average has increased from .219 to .232, and their BABIP has improved from .272 to .294 but their stolen bases have slipped from 40 to 29.

“Offensively is the spot that we can all see that we need to get better at, continue to work on,” Kelly said, noting that the starting pitching, bullpen and defense have been good. “Continue to get better offensively and work on those things we talked about earlier: staying through the middle of the field, going the other way, taking what the other team’s going to give us. We don’t have a power team. We’re not going to hit a lot of home runs. How do we stay on a line gap to gap and continue to work through that and continue to get better at the other things, as well? The defense and the pitching (are) going to continue to drive us.”

That’s where McCutchen believes the Pirates must adjust their approach and discover their identity — both collectively and individually — in the second half, even if it requires scratching and clawing to score runs. McCutchen believes the Pirates need to focus on what they do well, by working counts, getting on base, stealing bases and moving runners with situational hitting to score runs.

“These are the ways we can be consistent and win games,” McCutchen said. “Most of the time when we win, that’s what happens: It’s small ball. It’s working a walk, stealing a base, getting a bunt down, getting a guy over. It’s fighting, fighting, fighting until you get a pitch to do some damage with. As a team, that’s what we have to do because we’re not a big team that slugs away and hits homers.

“I think it’s a lot of guys in situations realizing that it’s not there, ‘I need to cut it down and make an adjustment and do what I can to see this ball well enough to where I can make contact — so I’m not just swinging to swing.’ If we can get guys to commit to that, we can be a better team offensively. But if we’re going to be balls-to-the-wall and just swing, swing, swing with no approach, then we’ll continue to do what we’re doing.”

The most noticeable difference in the Pirates under the direction of Shelton and Kelly is the reduction of mental gaffes. They still make their share of errors, but the Little League mistakes that were signature of the Shelton era — from first baseman Will Craig allowing a run to score while chasing Javier Baez back to home plate to Ke’Bryan Hayes missing first base on a home run to Rodolfo Castro’s phone popping out of his pocket on a slide — are no longer regular occurrences under Kelly.

“I feel like we learn from our mistakes as the season goes,” Falter said. “We just try our absolute hardest to not let that happen again. I’m super confident in the guys that we’re going to slowly turn this thing around, for sure, but we’ve got to keep playing and keep winning games, keep our head on straight and just kind of embrace the suck whenever it happens and learn from it and go from there.”