Before the Pittsburgh Pirates left for a six-game swing in Los Angeles, Andrew McCutchen voiced to TribLive his concerns about how they needed to find consistency in their lineup instead of the constant shuffling.
Based on the batting orders against the Angels and Dodgers last week, that message was received loud and clear by Pirates manager Derek Shelton and taken to heart.
The results justified McCutchen’s stance.
The Pirates boasted the best batting average in baseball (.289) by going 61 of 121 in the two series, an incredible reversal for a team that ranked dead last in the majors at .192 through its first 16 games this season.
Impressive as that appears, the Pirates hit even better when Shelton started the same exact lineup four times. With Oneil Cruz batting leadoff, followed by Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen, Enmanuel Valdez, Joey Bart, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Adam Frazier, Tommy Pham and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the Pirates batted .319 (46 of 144) in wins Tuesday and Wednesday against the Angels and losses Saturday and Sunday against the Dodgers.
“We are starting to get things going in the lineup, which is good,” McCutchen said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show after the 9-2 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday. “That seems like something we were missing. That was a rollercoaster of offensive battles for us, so to get some consistency in the lineup and with the guys at the bottom and throughout the whole lineup, it’s good to get that production. That’s the way we’re going to win ballgames. We have to keep the line moving and try not to do too much. That’s how we have to treat each game.”
McCutchen backed up his words with his bat by hitting .375 (9 for 24) with two home runs and four RBIs, including a 4-for-4 performance Sunday that featured a solo homer in the first inning.
“Cutch is having good swings. First four days of the road trip, he’d been really hot,” Shelton said, noting that McCutchen bounced back after going 0 for 5 Saturday. “He’s having really consistent at-bats, and we need that in our lineup.”
The catalyst has been Cruz, who appears to have found a home atop the batting order. He hit .333 (9 for 27) with three home runs, six RBIs and six runs scored in the leadoff spot. That doesn’t include the line drive clocked at a119.6-mph exit velocity snared by Angels superstar Mike Trout with the game-tying run on base to end the 4-3 loss Thursday.
“I think Oneil has found his stride at the top of the order,” McCutchen said. “He has to continue to pace himself and not try to do too much. If they walk him, just trust in the guy behind him. With Bryan (Reynolds), that shouldn’t take much to trust in him. We’ve been in a good spot with the top three of the order, so hopefully we can continue that.”
After going 5 for 13 with a double, three RBIS and two runs scored against the Angels, Reynolds cooled off considerably by going 0 for 12 with four strikeouts against the Dodgers.
Shelton had the lefty-hitting Valdez bat cleanup to split righties McCutchen and Bart in the batting order, and the first baseman followed McCutchen’s homer with a solo shot on Sunday to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. Like Reynolds, Bart went 5 for 13 against the Angels but 0 for 7 against the Dodgers.
“I’m sure if you ask Bryan, he probably don’t feel good right now,” McCutchen said. “But he’s still going to give you productive at-bats. … One through five staying pretty consistent for us. That’s something that we’re going to need.”
A notorious slow starter with a career .239 batting average in March and April over 17 seasons, McCutchen is hitting .292 this month but warned not to read too much into success at the plate at this point of the season.
“I always say in April you just want to hover. You don’t want to get too high or too low. You just want to hover,” McCutchen said. “That could be a different definition for a lot of guys. For me, it’s just having productive at-bats and taking good swings and swinging at good pitches and basically hoping for the best. I felt pretty good this trip, made some strides. Hopefully, just continue that and maintain it as we go back to Pittsburgh.”
The Pirates fared well when Frazier, Pham and Kiner-Falefa formed the bottom of the order, as they combined to bat .386 (7 for 44) and at least three hits in all four games they batted seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, including going 7 for 11 on Tuesday.
Although they blew early leads in all three losses, the Pirates proved they could hang with two of MLB’s top home run-hitting teams. The Dodgers lead the majors with 45 homers, while the Angels rank fifth with 39. Shelton said he thought the Pirates played well in the first five games of the trip, calling it “something to build on.”
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Now that the Pirates are playing a consistent lineup, McCutchen wants to see them show that they are capable of continuing their success at the plate against the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres at PNC Park.
“We showcased some stretches where we can put the runs up,” McCutchen said. “When the pitching does their job, which they did more times than not, we have opportunities to win, especially against a team like the Dodgers. You look at paper, people expect them to sweep you, no matter what, just because of the team, the payroll, the guys on the team. For us to go in and play them well for two games, it showed we’re capable of doing that.”