Pittsburgh Pirates Castoff Travis Ishikawa Becomes October Hero

By Nate Vandergrift on October 17, 2014

During Spring Training this season, the Pittsburgh Pirates were confident in trying to make Andrew Lambo the team’s first baseman. They gave him every shot to earn the job in Spring Training, and Lambo blew it big time. He went 4-for-45 with no extra base hits, and with that .095 average, earned him a trip to Indianapolis. That’s when the Pirates turned to free agent signee Travis Ishikawa to play in a platoon with Gaby Sanchez at first. Ishikawa started the home opener for the Pirates and ended up playing in 15 games. He hit .206 for the Pirates with one home run and three RBIs — little did they know Ishikawa would be a National League Championship Series hero.

Less than a month into the season, the Pirates traded for New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis, meaning the writing was on the wall for Ishikawa’s release. The Pirates designated him for assignment, and a short time later he signed a minor league deal with the team that drafted him, the San Francisco Giants. Ishikawa wasn’t upset about being bumped out of Pittsburgh for Ike Davis. “You know I think they felt that trade would make them better,” Ishikawa told CBS Pittsburgh. “And I can’t fault them for it.” Ishikawa spent 71 games with the Fresno Grizzlies, hitting .271 with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs. Ishikawa was called up by the Giants at the end of July, primarily to be a pinch-hitter. But thanks to a series of injuries to the Giants, including left fielder Michael Morse and center fielder Angel Pagan, Ishikawa worked his way into the starting lineup.

A first baseman by trade, the Giants took a risk and put Ishikawa in left field. The switch to the outfield nearly turned disastrous in the third inning of Game 6 of the NLCS, when Ishikawa misplayed a fly ball by Jon Jay. That allowed the St. Louis Cardinals to score the first run of the game. But overall, the risk in left field paid off for the Giants. Ishikawa played left field in all nine postseason games for the Giants and rewarded them by hitting .385 in the NLCS, including one big three-run home run. Ishikawa’s three-run homer off of Michael Wacha in the bottom of the ninth inning sent the Giants back to the World Series. The 6-3 win gave the team their third pennant in the past five years. Ishikawa is the first Giant to send his team to the World Series with a game-winning home run since Bobby Thompson‘s “Shot Heard Round the World” back in 1951.

I had no problem with the Pirates cutting ties with Ishikawa and bringing in Davis. Ishikawa was a journeyman who never really produced in the majors, and he definitely wasn’t the long-term answer for the Pirates at first base, a problem that still persists in Pittsburgh. But seeing Ishikawa hit a walk-off home run to send his new team, the same team that knocked the Pirates out of the playoffs, to the World Series does sting a little bit for Pirates fans.

Nate Vandergrift is a Pirates writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter@natevandergrift, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.