Bryce Johnson

May 30, 2023

Suwinski’s swings provided a pair of bright moments at the plate for the Pirates (26-27) in a humbling defeat that dropped them below .500 for the first time since April 2. He also made a shoestring catch of a Bryce Johnson fly ball to center in the bottom of the eighth inning. That the 24-year-old lefty slugger has found success on the road is a positive sign for the Pirates, especially given his home-away splits last season: He slashed .112/.211/.184 with two doubles, three homers and seven RBIs in 50 games on the road, while batting .282/.373/.609 with nine doubles, 16 homers and 31 RBIs in 56 games at PNC Park last year. Suwinski has downplayed those splits, believing his road troubles had more to do with adjusting to a travel schedule that disrupted his sleep and pre-game routines than it did with playing at other ballparks. “It wasn’t really a concern of mine this year at all,” Suwinski said. “I haven’t put that much thought into it, to be honest. Not something that I want to try and force in a situation. I don’t think it would do me any good mentally to kind of take that into a road series.” Suwinski has reversed that trend this season, slashing .284/.388/.672 with two doubles, eight homers and 17 RBIs in 22 games on the road while batting .200/.322/.387 with five doubles, three homers and 11 RBIs in 23 games at home. His road numbers, however, have been inconsistent. Suwinski went 1 for 9 in the first road series of the season, at Cincinnati and Boston, before batting .462 (6 for 13) with three homers and five RBIs in five games last month at St. Louis and Colorado, where he hit his first grand slam. Although Suwinski strikes out at an unacceptable level (32.5%), he has lowered his chase rate almost eight points to 16.7% and increased his walk rate by four points to 15.1%. Pirates manager Derek Shelton called it an “encouraging sign” that Suwinski found his timing on this road trip, saying his first homer helped spark a Pirates two-run rally. “We see when Jack hits on time, the ball can go a long way,” Shelton said. “He hit the second one off a position player but the first one he hit and flushed that up and kind of gave us some energy to get back in the game in the seventh. I’ve seen that at Colorado and we’ve seen it at home: When he gets it flush, it’s going to go a long way.” Suwinski hit .167 in six games at Washington and Tampa Bay before batting .429 (6 for 14) on this trip, going 4 for 10 with two homers and three RBIs in three games at Seattle. After dealing with struggles, Suwinski has simplified his plate approach with success, home or away. “One of my goals is to make hard contact and not really try to force it in any direction or anything,” Suwinski said. “Just sticking with the game plan and the approach and let that be one of my attainable goals.” Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter . Categories:Pirates/MLB | Sports