McCutchen makes Pirates history in Bucs’ win over Rockies
Andrew McCutchen made Pirates history this past Tuesday night when he hit three home runs in a 9-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver.
McCutchen became just the fourth player in franchise to have multi three-home run games, joining a trio of Hall of Famers in Ralph Kiner (four), Willie Stargell (four) and Roberto Clemente (two).
The center fielder’s other three-homer game came in his rookie season on Aug. 1, 2009 against the Washington Nationals at PNC Park when he connected off Craig Stammen, Tyler Clippard and Logan Kensing in an 11-6 victory.
McCutchen wound up going 4-for-5 as Virgil Vasquez beat Stammen. It marked the last time a Pirates player went deep three times in a game until Tuesday.
At 29, McCutchen is just the second Pirates’ player to have more than three-homer game before turning 30. All of four of Kiner’s games came when he was 28 or younger.
The other Pirates with three-homer games: Roman Mejias, Frank Thomas, Dick Stuart, Bill Robinson, Darnell Coles and Aramis Ramirez. No Pirates player has ever hit four home runs in a game.
Meanwhile, it was the 11th time a visiting player hit three home runs in a game at Coors Field, which opened in 1995. However, McCutchen had hit just three home runs in his first 24 games and 89 at-bats there until his outburst Tuesday.
The Pirates’ 12-10 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks last Sunday at Phoenix was a wild, including left-handed pitcher Jon Niese coming off the bench to drive in an insurance run with an RBI single as a pinch-hitter in the top of the 13th inning.
Niese became just the third active pitchers to have a pinch-hit RBI in the 13th inning or later, joining the San Diego Padres’ Andrew Cashner in 2013 and the Chicago Cubs’ Travis Wood in 2014.
Niese’s lifetime batting average is just .155 in 386 plate appearances. However, he is 2-for-4 as a pinch hitter, including his lone career triple in 2011 for the New York Mets off the then-Florida Marlins’ Juan Carlos Oviedo.
Second baseman Josh Harrison ended his home run drought of nearly a year Friday night in a 4-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park.
Harrison hit his first home run since May 15, a span of 379 at-bats, into the bleachers in right field with two outs in the fourth to raise the Pirates’ lead to 2-0. It proved to be the game-winning hit.
“I knew it had been a while,” said Harrison, whose has gone deep just 25 times in his six-year career. “I never go up to the plate looking to hit a home run. When they come, they come.”