Pirates fans sent Starling Marte a loud message on Sunday afternoon. A day later, manager Clint Hurdle reinforced it. Now, it’s up to Marte to show there was a lesson learned.
As punishment for making a pair of imprudent gaffes, Marte was benched on Monday for the opener of a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves.
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In the third inning of Sunday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, Marte drew catcalls by jogging to first base on a ground ball. In the sixth, he ignored instructions from third-base coach Joey Cora and was thrown out at home plate.
“We had to have a conversation,” Hurdle said Monday. “You talk about fatigue, you talk about effort, you talk about energy, you talk about focus. A lot of things are in your control, and you have accountability to your teammates.”
Marte stayed in Sunday’s game, which the Pirates won 2-1 in 11 innings. He doubled in the seventh inning and drove left fielder Kyle Schwarber to the wall with a booming fly ball in the 10th. After the game. Hurdle pulled Marte aside and told him he wouldn’t be in the lineup on Monday.
“It’s a decision my manager made, and I respect it.” Marte said through an interpreter. “I don’t have say-so over that. I’m just going to submit to it.”
Being benched certainly was a blow to Marte’s pride. But what might have stung him even more was being booed by the crowd of 24,000-plus on Sunday at PNC Park.
“It makes you feel horrible,” Marte said. “They could see I slipped. So for them to still boo me, it made me feel bad. I understand where they’re coming from, but at the same time … look, man, I slipped. I would try to run anything else out, but I slipped.
“In situations like that, if you’re trying to motivate me to play harder, the best way to do it is with encouragement. Booing a player not only makes us look bad and feel bad, but it makes the fans look bad, too. It makes them look like non-baseball fans. I love our fans. I get their frustration. But, at the same time, if you’re trying to encourage us and motivate us, try to avoid booing us because that doesn’t lift us up.”
Since he returned in July 2017 from an 80-game suspension for flunking a steroids test, Marte has worked hard to regain the trust of his teammates and coaches and also rebuild his relationship with the fans. This season, he is batting .275 with 17 home runs and 28 stolen bases, and his 2.8 WAR is third-best on the team.
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Yet, Marte took at least a small step backward on Sunday with a pair of ill-advised plays.
Batting with none on and one out in the third, Marte rolled over on the first pitch from José Quintana. Marte lost his footing for a moment, righted himself, and moved at half-speed down the first-base line. When he saw Hurdle waiting for him on the steps, Marte veered and used a different entrance to the dugout.
“I thought there could have been better effort to finish the play,” Hurdle said. “So did the fans. That’s the first time I’ve heard the fans (react to him like that). He’s worked his way back into their good graces after what he’s gone through. They support him. There was a disappointment from them, for sure.”
Marte said he didn’t sprint toward first base because he was worried about injuring himself after stumbling out of the box.
“I didn’t want to risk it,” Marte said. “I completely understand the manager’s point of view and all of that. But in that moment, my mentality was more on sometimes when you slip and try to force it, you can pull an injury. I’m just trying to be safe right now and be healthy for the rest of the season.”
Marte’s explanation is similar to the reasoning Gregory Polanco offered in June after he was criticized for ambling on the bases against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Polanco missed a big chunk of last season with hamstring injuries. Marte was on the disabled list in May with a strained oblique.
There’s no such excuse for Marte’s blunder in the sixth inning. With the game tied at 1, the Pirates had Polanco on second and Marte on third with none out. When David Freese hit a grounder to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, Cora told Marte to stay put.
“For whatever reason, (Marte) wandered off the base and got stuck and didn’t make an effort to get out of it,” Hurdle said. “That’s disappointing.”
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When Marte realized he had no chance to score, he simply stopped and gave himself up. Polanco made it to third base, but Freese had no chance to get to second.
“Now that I’ve looked at the play again, I recognize that if I would’ve gotten myself in a rundown situation, maybe I would have given an opportunity to (Freese to advance),” Marte said.
This was not the first time that Hurdle has disciplined a star player. In May 2011, Andrew McCutchen walked to the dugout instead of running to first base on a strikeout when the ball got away from Los Angels Dodgers catcher Rod Barajas. The next day, McCutchen was benched and replaced by Xavier Paul. The game was rained out.
In recent seasons, Marte has gotten flak for his occasional mental lapses in the outfield. Hurdle delivered the same sermon then as he did now.
“I encouraged him, ‘Effort. It’s always about effort. Once you get back up on your feet, run,’” Hurdle said. “He’s got a gift and a skill. He can show every day and beat you so many different ways. Use it. Utilize it.”
Marte admitted he was disquieted by the boos that he heard during his long trudge back to the dugout. But he added that he does not expect that one play to define him with the fans.
“It doesn’t worry me that they’re going to think that of me from now on because I know I’m always going to bring my all,” Marte said. “I know I have fans watching me. More than anything, I know I had kids watching me, even my own kids, every single day watching me play. I know who I represent. Not only do I represent this team, I represent my family and all those young kids who are dreaming of being up here in the big leagues.”
(Top photo credit: Isaiah J. Downing/USA TODAY Sports)