Rowdy Tellez sets Pirates record with 3 sacrifice flies in game; 1st NL player to do so since 1987

Somewhat lost in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ comeback ninth-inning walk-off victory against the Philadelphia Phillies Friday night at PNC Park was a franchise record and an occurrence not seen in the National League for almost 37 years.

Pirates first baseman Rowdy Tellez recorded three sacrifice flies in the 8-7 win, making him the first player in club history to do so as well as the first NL batter since San Francisco’s Candy Maldonado on Aug. 29, 1987.

Not since 2008 has an MLB player had three sacrifice flies in a game, and Tellez’s performance marked only the 11th time since 1961 a big-leaguer has recorded three or more.

Tellez went 0 for 1 at the plate with his three sacrifice flies in the first, third and seventh innings, which helped spark the Pirates to their fifth straight win, tying the club’s streak from March 28-April 1 to begin the year for longest of the season.

For the first time since April 24, the Pirates (49-48) are above .500.

“Got a good win tonight,” Tellez said postgame. “Good hits all around. But that’s huge. Especially coming out of the All-Star break. Sometimes you play a little flat. But keep it going, get above .500, and hopefully we carry that momentum into every game we go into.”

Tellez’s performance also continues a movie-like redemption arc which has seen him go from being booed at every available opportunity in Pittsburgh to fans chanting his name during at-bats.

A dramatic reversal of fortunes in the batter’s box has been the catalyst for that, with Tellez heating up and batting .333 in June after managing a .192 average in April and .143 in May.

Tellez’s hot streak has continued into July.

Through 40 at-bats this month, he’s hitting .300 with four homers and 12 RBIs.

For manager Derek Shelton, Friday’s performance showed steps in the right direction.

“Just good at-bats. Not trying to do too much,” Shelton said. “I think early in the season, in those situations, he tried to do too much. Now he realizes, ‘all right, if I put the ball in the outfield, we’re going to score.’ I think that’s really important. Those at-bats really lengthen out the game, and he did a really great job with that.”

Tellez told reporters following the game that winning in the manner that the Pirates did sums up what clubs need to do in order to manufacture the momentum needed to push into the postseason.

“This is how you have to win,” he said. “This is how September baseball is won.”

But as Tellez also noted, he was far from the only architect in Friday’s win.

Credit goes to the bullpen, with Kyle Nicolas, Dennis Santana, Quinn Priester, Colin Holderman and Carmen Mlodzinski combining to toss 5 1/3 innings with only one run allowed after starter Martin Perez was yanked early.

Offensively, the Pirates also have Oneil Cruz (3 for 5, three RBIs, two doubles), Bryan Reynolds (3 for 5, two RBIs) and Andrew McCutchen (2 for 3, three runs) to thank.

In addition, it was Nick Gonzales who collected the walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth as well as driving in another run on the night.

All four batted ahead of Tellez in the five-hole Friday, helping the Pirates notch a memorable victory immediately after the All-Star break.

“Hitting’s hard. But I think when you have more than one guy pulling on the same end of the rope, it makes it easier,” Tellez said. “The prime example is today. I couldn’t do what I did if the 3-4 guys in front of me didn’t do their jobs — get on, get (runners) over, stuff like that.

“Just being able to capitalize on positive things that happen, whether they’re outs or good swings, good at-bats.”