Freeze Frame: Cutch's tough-luck night

ST. LOUIS -- It was the four-hit game that never was.

Andrew McCutchen got off to a strong start in the Pirates' 3-0 loss to the Cardinals Friday, legging out an infield single that ultimately yielded nothing, but he had three arguably better hit balls that wound up being gobbled up by the Cardinals' defense.

It started with a ball hit right on the screws at 104.5 mph, but right at third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Next came this fifth inning line drive that nearly resulted in the first RBI of the game had Tyler O'Neill not been able to hand on:

Finally, and perhaps most impressive is this hard hit ball into the 5.5 hole. This seems like a surefire leadoff base hit, but Tommy Edman had other plans:

I mean, that is as good a play as a shortstop can make.

The expected batting averages on those three balls, per Baseball Savant, were .560, .490 and .690. Statistically speaking, the odds of him going 0-for-3 on those balls is a little less likely than him going 3-for-3.

That's baseball.

"He really could [have had four hits]," Derek Shelton said. "There's nothing you can do when you hit the ball that hard, and we didn't get the ball to fall tonight."