Hurdle encouraged by Hughes’ recent outings

PITTSBURGH — After back-to-back solid outings, reliever Jared Hughes looks like his old self again.

In the Pirates’ 5-4 victory vs. the D-backs on Wednesday, Hughes was called to the mound in the seventh inning with one out and a runner on second. He promptly induced groundouts from Phil Gosselin and Nick Ahmed to end the threat.

That’s a big turnaround from his performance on Monday, when Hughes got one out then gave up two singles in the ninth inning of the Pirates’ 6-3 win vs. the Rockies. Closer Mark Melancon was called in to get the save.

Hughes, who looks for ground-ball outs, has struggled to produce them this season. His ground ball to fly ball ratio is 1.07, meaning he’s allowing nearly the same amount of fly balls to ground balls this year. In 2015, that ratio was 3.43, and in 2014 it was 3.81.

Bullpen coach Euclides Rojas and pitching coach Ray Searage have helped Hughes return to form. The trio watch video …

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