McCutchen hopes incident, big inning is 'the fire that we need'
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PITTSBURGH -- Andrew McCutchen was quick with his answer postgame about what goes through his head when a high and tight fastball goes for the dome.
"Nothing. You don't got time to think about anything except react.¡±
McCutchen was able to hit the deck just in time, avoiding a potential fastball from Nationals reliever Jorge L¨®pez to the helmet. The two have some history together (McCutchen hit a winning home run off him last September when L¨®pez was with the Cubs and in a playoff chase), and Nationals infielder Paul DeJong was placed on the injured list after being hit in the face on an errant Mitch Keller pitch Tuesday.
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McCutchen said afterward he didn¡¯t think L¨®pez¡¯s pitch was intentional, but given that Bryan Reynolds had just been hit right before McCutchen came to bat, it¡¯s easy to see why emotions were heightened.
A batter doesn¡¯t get much time to react to a potential fastball to the head. It didn¡¯t take much time for McCutchen¡¯s teammates to react to the pitch either. Benches and bullpens cleared in the seventh inning after McCutchen¡¯s near miss, and while things de-escalated before it got out of hand, it showed that they have the franchise icon¡¯s back.
¡°I think our whole club, as you can see, got fired up,¡± Derek Shelton said. ¡°They took a little bit of offense to what happened, and because of it, it ended up sparking a big inning."
That seventh inning ended up being the dagger for the Pirates on Wednesday. L¨®pez was ejected, McCutchen walked two pitches later to load the bases and Oneil Cruz lined a grand slam over the Clemente Wall, sealing a 6-1 Pirates win.
¡°Cruz showed up,¡± McCutchen said. ¡°Lit a fire under him. He was able to hit a grand slam. Sometimes it's needed.¡±
And this Pirates team needs some fire.
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Wednesday¡¯s win was multi-faceted. Bailey Falter was outstanding through seven innings, facing the minimum amount of batters. Henry Davis hit a home run in the fifth inning and threw out a potential base stealer in the second.
But if you¡¯re looking for a spark for this team that has not done much the first three weeks of the season, defending a franchise icon and beating down their opponent is a good way to start.
¡°You clearly see everybody's got each other's backs,¡± Davis said. ¡°We're playing for each other. You love the guys in the clubhouse. You love coming to the field every day knowing that we all got each other's backs, especially when it's Cutch out there.¡±
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McCutchen didn¡¯t come back to Pittsburgh in 2023 for an elongated farewell tour. He wants to win, and a part of that is being a leader and a central figure in the clubhouse.
He¡¯s shown leadership in different ways. He wasn¡¯t expected to play the field much this year, but with Reynolds limited to DH duties as he works back from a shoulder injury, he¡¯s taken plenty of reps in right field so Shelton can write his name into the lineup. It had been over 40 years since the last time the Pirates started a 38-year-old outfielder, but it¡¯s become the norm over the last couple of weeks.
Sometimes, it¡¯s goofy. On Monday, he bought his teammates Phiten necklaces, a throwback to the hottest fashion trend of a decade ago. The team loves them, and Davis flashed his necklace to the Pirates bench as he rounded third on his homer, the new recurring celebration on the team.
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McCutchen¡¯s quite aware of what it looks like if you keep trying to do something to bring the team together. You can press at the plate, and you can press in the clubhouse too. In baseball, things that happen organically tend to work out for the better.
Time will tell if that¡¯s the case here, or if a Wednesday night win could maybe spark something.
¡°When the season's gone the way that it's gone for us so far, sometimes things like that can bring a team that's just trying to figure out their identity and figure out the whys,¡± McCutchen said. ¡°Why are we up and down, why do we score 10 one day and can't seem to score one the next? You have something like today. It can bring teams together. But it's a good overall win for us. Hopefully that's the fire that we need."