The Pirates aren’t homering, but they’re winning anyway

The Pittsburgh Pirates hadn’t hit a home run this season until Friday. When it happened, the bases were loaded and they were down three in the eighth inning. That’s when Starling Marte connected for a grand slam that gave them a 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Great time for the team’s first homer, right?

Because of Marte’s blast, the Pirates are now 4-0. Yep, the Pirates, despite their scarce number of long balls, haven’t lost yet.

[Elsewhere: Trevor Story writing unprecedented first chapter to Rockies career]

We’ll see if they can keep that going as their series continues Saturday against the Reds. It’s the Yahoo Sports MLB Free Game of the Day, which you can stream for free at sports.yahoo.com/videos or right here. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. ET. And that pitching matchup should be a good one. Both teams are trotting out their opening-day starters again, so Gerrit Cole for the Pirates against Raisel Iglesias for the Reds.

(Yahoo Sports)

This non-homering Pirates offense will be a thing to watch. Their first one means Kansas City Royals are now the only team in baseball that hasn’t hit a home run in 2016.

After Friday night’s win, Marte told reporters that the Pirates focus isn’t on hitting homers. From Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:

“We are trying to hit line drives. We are not trying to hit home runs,” Marte said. “We are just trying to get on base.”

As Sawchik notes, the Pirates have a new-look lineup this season that’s traded power for on-base abilities. Gone is Pedro Alvarez and his lower batting average. Arrived is John Jaso, who had a .459 on-base percentage last year.

[Elsewhere: Adidas unveils special Jackie Robinson Day cleats]

That is what’s made the Pirates successful so far. Their OBP is .389, best in the majors. Meanwhile, they have the third best ERA in baseball, 2.37 — including a 1.13 bullpen ERA.

The Pirates won 98 games last season, second-most in MLB, partially because they’re one of the smartest teams in baseball these days. They’re great at defensive alignments and their use of anaytics is well documented. Perhaps their next evolution includes winning without homers.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: