CHICAGO (670 The Score) -- The Pirates have made an impression on the Cubs this season -- and not just because they sit 2.5 games back in the NL Central race entering play Friday.
Pittsburgh has also made a habit of throwing up and in to Chicago hitters, a tactic that set Cubs manager Joe Maddon off during a win on July 4, when he was ejected after expressing his displeasure and attempting to confront Pirates manager Clint Hurdle.
As the teams prepared to open a three-game series Friday at Wrigley Field, all that was still on the Cubs' minds.
"It's a great theory," Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. "You throw at Javy (Baez's) head three times then you throw a slider away to get him out. It is scary and until MLB steps in and does something, it will continue to be a good formula to get guys out. Throw at guys and then throw down and away to get them out. At some point, you have to stand up, and Joe did that in Pittsburgh. It's the fastballs up and in that give every hitter in the league a right to get angry. That's how the Pirates pitch and have success."
Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant wasn't involved in the hit-by-pitch fireworks of the early July series between the teams, but he's been hit 11 times this season, including once by the Pirates in April. He explained his view on pitches being thrown up and in.
"It is pretty obvious when it is on purpose," Bryant said. "I don 't think it was (in Pittsburgh). If it keeps happening, that's when it is not OK."
"I will look at it as you got me once, and we will move on from that. If it repeatedly happens, that's when I will say we must change it up."
Bryant was hit three times by the Rockies over a span of two days in June, then got a day off in that series to recuperate, so he knows the dangers of getting drilled.
"It is frustrating when you are getting hit in the shoulder area up by your head," Bryant said. "That is kind of how (the Pirates) pitch. I don't know if it's their pitching coach (Ray Searage). I do notice they pitch inside a lot. It isn't necessarily up."
Hurdle shared his own perspective of the disagreement with the Cubs, viewing it as part of competition.
"Iron sharpens iron," Hurdle said. "I think every player has spots where they are vulnerable to making outs -- whether it's up, down, in or out. We don't encourage anyone to throw at anyone's head --never. We never have and never will. The game is played on the field. Players want to represent themselves well without causing anyone else harm. Moving people off the plate has been around the game a long time. There was a point we went through where we moved people off the plate. We were moved off the plate. It may be that hitters take more exception to it now. The hitter's offensive approach can become a part of the dynamic. I can understand anybody's angst when they are pitched up and in. That is not one of our teaching techniques to pitch up and in around people's heads."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
