Perrotto: Not Just a Sentimental Journey for Andrew McCutchen (+)
PITTSBURGH – It was all about Andrew McCutchen. Just as it should have been.
Bryan Reynolds hit yet another home run and tied a career high with six RBIs on Friday as the Pittsburgh Pirates outlasted the Chicago White Sox 12-9 in their home opener at PNC Park.
Connor Joe had four hits, including three doubles. Ji Hwan Bae and Jason Delay had three-hits day.
McCutchen was almost lost in the Pirates’ 19-hit outburst. He went 2 for 5 as he singled in his first two at-bats.
Yet while McCutchen might not have been the star of the game, he was certainly the man of the hour in his first game with the Pirates since 2017.
The Pirates infamously traded McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants prior to the 2018 season. He has since had a somewhat itinerant career as he has also played for the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers.
However, McCutchen returned “home” to the Pirates in the offseason when he signed a one-year, $5-million contract as a free agent. He is back with the organization that drafted him in the first round in 2005 and the one in which he starred from 2009-17, winning the National League MVP award in 2013 and making five straight All-Star teams from 2011-15.
The fans, as expected, went crazy when McCutchen was introduced during pre-game ceremonies. The cheers were even louder when he stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the first inning to a rousing standing ovation.
Baseball is about moments more than any other sport, especially ones that are nostalgic or tug at the heartstrings. This was a moment to remember and McCutchen was clearly touched.
“I remember coming back here for the first time after I got traded in 2018, I remember getting that same ovation, but it was different this time,” McCutchen said. “It was emotional then, too, but it was a different type of emotion. It’s like it was supposed to happen.
“I love these fans, I love these fans, man. The whole experience from the ovation to the umpire giving me that time to be able to experience that … just the whole experience … (I was) able to re-live in the past a little bit.”
It’s fun to relive McCutchen’s past. He helped turn the franchise around, ending its record-setting streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons in 2013, which also marked the first of three straight years that the Pirates reached the postseason.
The Pirates are off to a surprising 5-2 start after losing 101 and 100 games the past two seasons.
Even though hope truly does spring eternal on opening day, anyone would be hard-pressed to think this team is going to the playoffs. Yet the Pirates look like a legitimate major league team for the first time since general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton came to town prior to the 2020 season.
Furthermore, McCutchen isn’t just serving as a link to the past. He can still play as evidenced by his .300 batting average (6 for 20) and seven walks that has boosted his on-base percentage to .500.
Shelton is hitting McCutchen third in the order because he’s an effective hitter, not for sentimental reasons.
“Something that really stands out to me about why the people in Pittsburgh have embraced Andrew McCutchen is he’s a real good player and he won an MVP here but the thing that stood out me today was fifth inning, ground ball to short he is flat out running like he was 22 years old as hard as he can be on a ball he knows is an out,” Shelton said. “I think that’s why you get an ovation like that.”
McCutchen got plenty of ovations Friday. Even at 35, he is playing like a guy who is going to get plenty more this season.