PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was a moment in the game that was scary, tense and potentially galvanizing for a Pirates team looking for sustained momentum after a 6-1 win over Washington. It’s what was said about the pitch high and tight to Andrew McCutchen that cleared the dugouts.
It was the bottom of the seventh with the Pirates up 2-0. There are two outs and runners at second and third. Bryan Reynolds was hit by a pitch from Naitonals reliever Jorge Lopez after striking out each of the first three times in the game. Then came McCutchen with the bases loaded and Lopez threw one high and tight to where McCutchen had to dive to the ground to avoid it. Cutch stewed a little, some words and benches and bullpens cleared.
“It was way too close to his head,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “Bryan had gotten hit two pitches before. And then we go above Cutch's head? Not a fan of that.”
“Just the nature of the situation, take it as is,” McCutchen said. “Even if it wasn't on purpose, which I don't really think it was. I think it was just the height of the moment got to him maybe. One got away from him, similar to Mitch. Praise God for quick reflexes.”
Yesterday, Pirates starter Mitch Keller hit Nationals Paul DeJong in the nose with a pitch. Shelton said if it was retribution for that, then it’s a lack of awareness.
Lopez wanted to defuse that quickly after the game.
“I apologize for everything,” Lopez said. “I wasn’t trying to make a purpose pitch. I was just trying to find my way with my delivery. I regret what happened.”
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We know now that the Nationals pitcher wasn’t trying to hit him, or that’s what he said. The result of the Pirates immediately having McCutchen’s back and then the next batter, Oneil Cruz homering might be what this team needs to build some togetherness.
"Anything that you can hang onto that galvanizes you, yeah,” Shelton said. “So if it galvanizes us, that's fine."
"That's what it's all about,” McCutchen said. “We don't want things like this to happen in a game where you have to clear benches and all this stuff happens and we just stand around, looking at each other.”
“You don't want to ever have to get to that point, but it's good for us to show up as a team and keep the game going. Not let the moment get to high or heighten off the moment, running off the emotion and letting your emotion take over. Then you try to do something you're not supposed to be doing. But Cruz showed up. Lit a fire under him. He was able to hit a grand slam. Sometimes it's needed. We ended up being on the good end of it."
McCutchen said you don’t want to force a team bond, although sometimes you have to. This wasn’t forced. Even with all of the negative emotions to the start of the season, when a teammate was down and appeared to be thrown at, his teammates responded.
“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."