Mound Visit: Cutch's production continues with four-hit day
Andrew McCutchen concluded the Pirates' six-game West Coast trip tonight in a way that best seemed to encapsulate his consistent return to the lineup as he turned in his first four-hit performance since 2022.
McCutchen, who finished the trip slashing .375/.444/.667 with an OPS of 1.111, gave his team a slight spark in the first inning as he jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Tyler Glasnow:
Enmanuel Valdez followed suit one batter later as he sent a 3-1 fastball into the seats in the right-field corner.
"We know with a guy like Glasnow, it's not the person you want to wait around on," McCutchen said about his at-bat against the former Pirate. "You don't want to wait out an at-bat with him. So a guy like him, you want to be able to jump on early and, he was able to throw me a fastball. And I did some damage with it."
Glasnow exited the game after the first inning due to right shoulder discomfort, turning the contest into a bullpen game for the Dodgers. Despite that, McCutchen recorded three singles off three different pitchers over his next three at-bats.
McCutchen battled through a six-pitch at-bat against Ben Casparius in the fourth inning before poking a middle-middle cutter into center field. He then smacked a single to left field off Alex Vesia in the sixth inning before finishing his day by turning on a second-pitch sweeper from Yoendrys Gómez.
"It's the game of baseball. It's like a spring training game," McCutchen said about adjusting to the different pitchers he was facing. "You face one guy and then you face another. So it shouldn't surprise anybody at this point. Just simplify as much as you can. Wait on your pitch and be ready to hit. And that's basically it."
The last time McCutchen accomplished this feat, he helped the Brewers capture an 18-4 win over the Reds on May 4, 2022. He walked once, hit one double and drove in four runs. On this day, the Pirates produced nine hits -- all singles outside of the two home runs -- and McCutchen never left first base on all three of his singles.
"Cutch is having good swings. Bounced back," Derek Shelton said. "The first four days of the road trip, he had been really hot, I think yesterday he went 0-for-5 and then rolled back out with four hits today. He's having really consistent at-bats. We need that in our lineup."
After 29 games, McCutchen has produced a .276 batting average with a .368 on-base percentage and an .815 OPS. But, over the Pirates' last seven games he's slashing .345/.406/.621 with two home runs, five RBIs and three walks while striking out five times.
McCutchen hit in all six games of this road trip and reached base safely in five of the six. When he's in the lineup, the Pirates are a better hitting team and McCutchen is right where he wants to be in terms of his approach at the plate.
"I always say in April, you just want to hover. You don't want to get too high or too low, you just sort of hover," McCutchen said. "That could be a different definition for a lot of guys. But for me, it's just having productive at-bats and taking good swings, swinging at good pitches and basically hoping for the best. I felt pretty good this trip, made some strides, and hopefully, [I’ll] just continue that, maintain it as we go back to Pittsburgh."
The Pirates will need it.
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
3:12 am - 04.28.2025LOS ANGELESMound Visit: Cutch's production continues with four-hit day
Andrew McCutchen concluded the Pirates' six-game West Coast trip tonight in a way that best seemed to encapsulate his consistent return to the lineup as he turned in his first four-hit performance since 2022.
McCutchen, who finished the trip slashing .375/.444/.667 with an OPS of 1.111, gave his team a slight spark in the first inning as he jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Tyler Glasnow:
Enmanuel Valdez followed suit one batter later as he sent a 3-1 fastball into the seats in the right-field corner.
"We know with a guy like Glasnow, it's not the person you want to wait around on," McCutchen said about his at-bat against the former Pirate. "You don't want to wait out an at-bat with him. So a guy like him, you want to be able to jump on early and, he was able to throw me a fastball. And I did some damage with it."
Glasnow exited the game after the first inning due to right shoulder discomfort, turning the contest into a bullpen game for the Dodgers. Despite that, McCutchen recorded three singles off three different pitchers over his next three at-bats.
McCutchen battled through a six-pitch at-bat against Ben Casparius in the fourth inning before poking a middle-middle cutter into center field. He then smacked a single to left field off Alex Vesia in the sixth inning before finishing his day by turning on a second-pitch sweeper from Yoendrys Gómez.
"It's the game of baseball. It's like a spring training game," McCutchen said about adjusting to the different pitchers he was facing. "You face one guy and then you face another. So it shouldn't surprise anybody at this point. Just simplify as much as you can. Wait on your pitch and be ready to hit. And that's basically it."
The last time McCutchen accomplished this feat, he helped the Brewers capture an 18-4 win over the Reds on May 4, 2022. He walked once, hit one double and drove in four runs. On this day, the Pirates produced nine hits -- all singles outside of the two home runs -- and McCutchen never left first base on all three of his singles.
"Cutch is having good swings. Bounced back," Derek Shelton said. "The first four days of the road trip, he had been really hot, I think yesterday he went 0-for-5 and then rolled back out with four hits today. He's having really consistent at-bats. We need that in our lineup."
After 29 games, McCutchen has produced a .276 batting average with a .368 on-base percentage and an .815 OPS. But, over the Pirates' last seven games he's slashing .345/.406/.621 with two home runs, five RBIs and three walks while striking out five times.
McCutchen hit in all six games of this road trip and reached base safely in five of the six. When he's in the lineup, the Pirates are a better hitting team and McCutchen is right where he wants to be in terms of his approach at the plate.
"I always say in April, you just want to hover. You don't want to get too high or too low, you just sort of hover," McCutchen said. "That could be a different definition for a lot of guys. But for me, it's just having productive at-bats and taking good swings, swinging at good pitches and basically hoping for the best. I felt pretty good this trip, made some strides, and hopefully, [I’ll] just continue that, maintain it as we go back to Pittsburgh."
The Pirates will need it.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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