Perrotto: How Will Pirates Replace Andrew McCutchen?

PITTSBURGH – Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been with the Pittsburgh Pirates for less than three weeks.

Yet the veteran infielder/outfielder already understands what Andrew McCutchen means to the Pirates’ past and present. So, Kiner-Falefa knows that the Pirates have a challenge ahead just when they seem to be finding a little daylight after nearly two weeks of darkness.

The Pirates placed McCutchen on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation before Saturday’s 7-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park. While the Pirates don’t think the injury is serious, they will be playing without their 37-year-old designated hitter/leadoff man/franchise icon for at least another nine days.

“Cutch is irreplaceable, no matter what you do you’re never going to replace a guy like that, so we could go on a run and it still doesn’t make up for not having him in the lineup,” Kiner-Falefa said. “You’ve just got to find different ways to win the game. Today, we had a couple stolen bases, good advancements and I think we just played the game well all-around. But you can’t replace Cutch.”

Kiner-Falefa did his part on Saturday while moving into the leadoff spot as he had three hits, including his career home run to lead off a game. That helped the Pirates to back-to-back wins over the Mariners following a 10-game losing streak.

Kiner-Falefa is seemingly the best option to hit at the top of the order with McCutchen sidelined. Acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays at the July 30 trade deadline, Kiner-Falefa has a .337 on-base percentage overall in 83 games.

The only Pirate with a better OBP is Bryan Reynolds (.350). McCutchen’s mark is .336.

“IKF’s a baseball player,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I think we knew when we acquired him that there were so many different things he was going to provide for us. Yesterday, he hit fourth just by the function of where our lineup’s at and had a big day. Today, he goes to the (leadoff spot) and gives us a spark right off the gate.”

The Pirates will miss McCutchen’s power, too. His 16 home runs rank third on the team behind Reynolds (19) and shortstop Oneil Cruz (18).

McCutchen is also on a season-high 11-game hitting streak, his longest since a 12-game streak in 2018 with the San Francisco Giants.

In those 11 games, McCutchen is hitting .326 (14 for 43) to lift his season batting average to .235. He also has three homers, 12 RBIs and a .981 OPS.

McCutchen’s production has put Shelton in a tricky spot. The Pirates need McCutchen’s bat in the lineup but also need to give him enough rest to keep his body fresh.

“We gave him three days (off) at the end of last homestand, and then going into the road trip to just try to take care of (McCutchen’s legs),” Shelton said. “We’ve tried to take care of him on the bases by pinch-running for him.

“The fact that he was swinging the bat so well, it’s just communication and conversation every day like ‘hey, where you at, how you feel?’. The one thing Cutch does a really good job is the days that he doesn’t feel great, he’ll tell me. He’ll be like ‘hey, I’m grinding a little bit today.’ And then it’s a conversation of ‘hey, you can’t start, can you hit late? Where you at?’ and then just kind of going from there.”

With their postseason effectively dashed by the losing streak, the Pirates have no reason to rush McCutchen back to action. However, they are more fun to watch when he is in the lineup.