McCutchen Shines as Pirates Win Second Straight

In front of a dismal crowd on Wednesday night, the Pirates took advantage of a sloppy Nationals team to win their second straight ballgame 4-2. The Pirates used a handful of pitchers after an Erik Bedard injury to take the second of the three game set. Andrew McCutchen homered for the second time in as many nights and finished 4-4 on the night to bring the Bucs two games below .500.

After replacing Bedard, Brad Lincoln would reach first base in the bottom of the 3rd inning on a wild third strike from Nationals starter Ross Detwiler. With the score still 0-0, Lincoln would advance to third on a single from Jose Tabata. Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen delivered back to back singles to give the Bucs a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, McCutchen finally flashed the speed we all knew he had by scoring from 2nd base on a Casey McGehee infield single. 

After scratching for 2 runs, the Nationals trailed 3-2 after batting in the 8th inning. McCutchen then stepped to the plate in the bottom of the inning and hammered a Craig Stammen fastball into the left field bleachers to give the Bucs a 4-2 lead. 

Hurdle would then call for the Hammer. After blowing a save last night, Hanrahan looked shaky to start the inning by hitting a batter and allowing a double to Ian Desmond. With the tying run on second base and only one out, Hanrahan would settle down to force a Bryce Harper fly out to bring the winning run to the plate with two outs. 

After reaching a full count to hitter Ryan Zimmerman, the Hammer reached back and blew a 96 mph fastball by the former all star to shut the books on the Nationals. Showing signs of relief, the Hammer looked to be back to his old ways.

Set to face Stephen Strasburg tomorrow night, the Pirates will need to build on this momentum to have chance of sweeping the first place Nationals

Written by Rick Bauer