Starling Marte was getting dressed about 20 minutes after giving the Pirates a 3-2 win against the Giants when, over his right shoulder, he heard Andrew McCutchen doing a frighteningly good impersonation of Marte's accent and penchant for giving bland answers to the media's questions. Gregory Polanco was laughing uncontrollably.
Finally, Marte broke down and smiled.
It was a Mar-tay Par-tay in the clubhouse, the good times at PNC Park continuing for the 73-48 Pirates thanks to a number of big moments, the two biggest authored by Marte, whose hand still isn't 100 percent.
"I've been around for a while," Chris Stewart told me while looking at Marte. "I haven't seen too many people like Starling. It's like there's nothing he can't do on a baseball field. Man, is he special."
Marte robbed Brandon Crawford of a home run, committed a bad baserunning error, then sent the crowd home happy with a 390-foot blast to left-center. Not a bad day's work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAJqQcotHww
"He's a very exciting player," Clint Hurdle said with a smile.
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