Sorry for the late recap here. I’m sure you can guess the drill on this one: last night’s game was long and ended late, I was way too tired to write one then, and then I had a bunch of things at work this morning that needed taken care of before I could sit down at the computer and write this one up.
I think this game is worth recapping, though, for one main reason: it’s maybe the first time this year that the Pirates have won, simply because they kept hitting. The Giants took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and so the Pirates scored four in the third to take a 4-2 lead. The Giants immediately tied it up, but the Pirates just kept on hitting. They scored in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to get that 7-4 deficit, and the bullpen held onto it without incident.
This is the sort of game I envisioned the Pirates winning often this year: you can take an early lead, you can erase an early deficit, you can score four runs, but if you’re going to send Chris Heston out to the mound, none of that will matter to the Pittsburgh Pirates. At the top of the lineup, Josh Harrison had two hits and scored a run, Gregory Polanco had a hit and a walk and scored twice, Andrew McCutchen had four hits (a homer shy of the cycle), two RBIs, and two runs scored, Neil Walker had two hits and an RBI, Starling Marte drew a walk and scored a run, and Pedro Alvarez had two hits, including the two-RBI double that keyed the third inning rally. That’s the first six hitters of the lineup all with at least one run scored or one RBI. Throw in Jordy Mercer’s first home run of the year, and that’s a real lineup, folks.
While we’re at it, let’s talk about Andrew McCutchen. I’ve said numerous times in the last few years that doubting Andrew McCutchen is a good way to make yourself look foolish. When McCutchen stood on May 6th with a .188/.279/.292 line, I was worried. Obviously I didn’t think it meant that his career was over. What I was worried about, though, was that the biggest slump of his career indicated a couple of things: that maybe he was getting older, that he’d no longer be capable of the incomprehensible hot-streaks that have dotted the summers of the three seasons preceding this one, and that maybe the years of him finishing with a .300/.400/.500 line were behind us. Essentially, that maybe we were entering the phase of Andrew McCutchen’s career where he downgraded from “perennial MVP candidate” to “perennial All-Star.” Not a huge drop, but a potentially significant one for a team that’s leaned on him awfully heavily the last two years.
This is what Andrew McCutchen has done since May 7th: .404/.481/.719 with 11 doubles, a triple, and five homers. His line on the 2015 season is .292/.379/.497. He’s on an incomprehensible hot streak. He’s hurtling towards .300/.400/.500. In that span, the Pirates have scored 125 runs in 25 games. They scored 94 runs in the season’s first 27, the 27 games in which McCutchen hit .188/.279/.292.
Andrew McCutchen is still one of the very best hitters in baseball. He’s not just the straw that stirs the Pirates’ drink; he’s the cup the keeps the drink from spilling everywhere.
Image: Ezra Shaw, Getty Images
