“MVP, MVP, MVP.” That was the chant ringing loud and clear throughout PNC Park on Saturday afternoon as Andrew McCutchen hit a three-run home run, his 13th of the season and his seventh hit in his last 12 at bats. If you think back, when was the last time you heard MVP chants in Pittsburgh for a game not held in Consol Energy Center, Mellon Arena, Heinz Field or in the fall at Three Rivers Stadium? Perhaps 1992 for Barry Bonds? Or maybe 1990 when Doug Drabek won his Cy Young? No matter when it was, the fact that the chant was ringing out for the 25-year-old McCutchen.
“I’m trying not to do too much and stay within myself,” McCutchen said. “I’m just swinging at pitches and hitting them. I’m making good contact and hitting them. I’m learning each at bat and each game. I’m just trying to take it game by game.”
With the game at a 0-0 standstill, McCutchen took the 0-2 fastball and planted it over the wall in left field to give his team an early 3-0 lead. Despite McCutchen’s dominance, he was once again overshadowed by a member of the starting rotation. Two days ago, James McDonald pitched his first career complete game when McCutchen wound up a home run shy of the cycle. In last night’s game, A.J. Burnett won his seventh straight start as a Pirate, the first since Dock Ellis did it in 1974 while McCutchen collected three more hits. Today, it was Brad Lincoln who was hoping to save his job as a starter.
“Yeah he did a great job,” McCutchen said about Lincoln. “Coming in, he’s been doing a good job this year. He’s giving us a chance to score some runs. He kept us in the game and did a great job. He kept us in the game.”
Lincoln did yeoman’s work as there was speculation that if he struggled, it could be his last start before being moved to the bullpen. While the option is still open with Jeff Karstens set to return from the disabled list soon, Lincoln gave the Pirates everything that he had and more, including taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
“As a pitcher, you know what the situation is,” Lincoln said. “For me, that deep in the game, you want to get deeper in the game and continue to hang onto that, but you can’t let that bother you. You have to go out there and go after the next guy to get out of the inning to give your team a chance to win the ballgame.”
Lincoln, who also threw 21 consecutive strikes at one point, went six innings giving up just two hits, one of them being a sole home run to Miguel Cabrera, while walking on and setting a new career-high in strikeouts with seven.
“I was trying to just pound the zone,” Lincoln said. “You can’t be afraid to throw it in the zone. My stuff works in the zone. That pitch to Cabrera, I was not going to walk him, I was going to go right at him mano-a-mano and he got the best of me.”
With Kevin Correia scheduled to take the hill tomorrow, it will be interesting if that schedule actually follows through. There has been a buzz that Correia may either be shipped or pushed to the bullpen allowing Karstens to skip his final rehab start and take the hill tomorrow against Justin Verlander in the deciding game. Karstens was after all, in the dugout for the Pirates despite a scheduled start in Indianapolis tomorrow as pointed out by the ever observant Kristy Robinson.
No matter who pitches, one thing is for certain, this team is having fun with their recent success.
“It’s been fun all year, especially not that we have the bats going,” Alex Presley said. “It’s what we’ve been waiting on. The pitching has been stellar all season and has been real consistent. We’ve always had fun in here. Win or lose a series, we always stay the same. We don’t get too down about something or too high. We’re just having fun and going out there and playing hard.”
With the Reds 6-0 win, the Pirates remain a game back of Cincinnati despite being a season-high six games over .500. Tomorrow’s finale against Jim Leyland and the Tigers will start at 1:35 p.m. ET.
Photo Credits: Associated Press
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