Pirates put Andrew McCutchen at leadoff for a spark to end skid

With the Pittsburgh Pirates struggling offensively amid a six-game losing streak, manager Derek Shelton turned to a trusted veteran bat in search of a spark at the leadoff spot in the lineup.

Andrew McCutchen understood the assignment.

“I get it. It’s something that I’m familiar with,” McCutchen said. “When you get called in by the manager and he’s asking something of you, you want to be able to hold your end of the bargain and try and step up.”

McCutchen’s 414-foot leadoff home run to left-center field set the tone for the Pirates in a 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night, providing a powerful start on his way to going 3 for 4 at the plate. He also had singles in the third and seventh innings.

Cutch starts it off! pic.twitter.com/qZhmeBLVco

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 22, 2024

“Sometimes, when you go through challenging times, a little stability helps,” Shelton said. “He was stable for us right from the get-go.”

It was nothing new for McCutchen, who hit the 23rd homer to lead off a game in his 16-year major league career but his first since last June 13 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. McCutchen has 11 leadoff homers as a Pirate, breaking a tie with Adam Frazier and Al Martin to trail only Barry Bonds (20) for the most in franchise history.

“Obviously, I have some experience there,” McCutchen said. “So, have good at-bats and do what I do. It’s nice to be able to do that. Sometimes, you kind of get lost in the middle of the order. So, it’s nice to start things off for the club. And, I’m sure I’m probably going to be doing it for a little bit now.”

Andrew McCutchen on hitting a leadoff home run for the Pirates against the Brewers after speaking it into existence. pic.twitter.com/hnsNkYFNek

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) April 23, 2024

It made sense that Shelton turned to McCutchen in a time of need, and not just because of his history batting leadoff. Oneil Cruz was batting .104 since April 7, and Shelton had tried Connor Joe, Edward Olivares and Jared Triolo atop the order with mixed results.

McCutchen has a .259/.354/.442 slash line with 98 doubles, 16 triples, 72 homers and 233 RBIs in 487 career games at the first spot in the order. But, after going 0 for 4 against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, he entered the Brewers game with a .173 batting average this season.

Shelton looked beyond the numbers, noticing that McCutchen made hard contact three times and “had his two best swings in a long time.” After McCutchen had exit velocities of 98.5 mph on a 386-foot fly out to center, 104.4 on a lineout to left and 104.6 on a 374-foot lineout to center, he was confident that some hits would soon fall.

Before the Brewers game, Shelton cracked that he was looking for McCutchen to get on base four times and score four runs.

“I think the biggest thing is Cutch can handle it,” Shelton said. “We all know he can control the zone and he can control at-bats. Right now, when you’re going through a tough stretch offensively, it’s nice to have that veteran up there that’s gonna be able to control it a little bit.”

McCutchen showed patience against Brewers right-hander Joe Ross, taking a thigh-high sinker inside for a called strike and not chasing after a slider in the dirt. When Ross threw a slider in McCutchen’s sweet spot, down and away in the strike zone, he blasted it into the bullpen.

“I’m obviously not trying to go up there and hit a homer,” McCutchen said. “I just put a good swing on a pitch. I just happened to get under it and it went out.”

That was exactly what the Pirates needed, after scoring only nine runs in getting swept in back-to-back series by the NewYork Mets and Boston Red Sox. Starter Jared Jones said the Pirates “were all fired up” by McCutchen’s 101.9-mph home run for an early lead.

“Definitely a tone setter, especially coming from a guy like Cutch,” Pirates reliever Hunter Stratton said. “All these young guys we’ve got in this clubhouse, when they see Cutch rolling like that they all say, ‘OK, I want to step up.’”

It was a reminder of the 37-year-old McCutchen’s rookie year, when he was a sparkplug in the leadoff spot for the Pirates before evolving into a fixture at the three hole. This season, McCutchen had batted either cleanup (three games) or fifth (10 games).

“Hey, as long as I’m playing, that’s all that matters,” McCutchen said. “I don’t care about where I’m playing or where I hit, as long as I’m in there, doing my job, trying to help the team. So, hit me leadoff, hit me … I don’t care, it’s fine.”