June 4, 2009: Andrew McCutchen sparks Pirates to win over Mets in major-league debut

Nearing an ignominious record for consecutive losing seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates dealt center fielder Nate McLouth for prospects in June 2009, then called up promising minor leaguer Andrew McCutchen to replace him. McCutchen’s Pittsburgh debut, a day after the controversial trade of All-Star and Gold Glove-winner McLouth, showcased the talents eventually instrumental to leading the Pirates out of their drought, as he contributed two hits, three runs scored, an RBI, and a stolen base in an 11-6 win over the New York Mets on June 4 at PNC Park.

The Pirates had not had a winning season since 1992 when they selected McCutchen, a high-school senior from Florida, with the 11th overall pick in the June 2005 amateur draft.1 By August 2007, Pittsburgh’s 15th consecutive losing season was at hand,2 and McCutchen was promoted to their Triple-A club in Indianapolis.3

McCutchen remained in Indianapolis for the entire 2008 season, ranking among International League leaders in several categories and solidifying his standing as one of the Pirates’ top prospects.4

In Pittsburgh, a 67-95 finish in ’08 tied the Pirates with the 1933-1948 Philadelphia Phillies for the longest stretch of losing seasons in a major North American professional sports league.5 One bright spot was McLouth, who won the starting job in center, gunned down the potential winning run in the All-Star Game, tied for the league lead in doubles, and was honored with a Gold Glove.6

When 2009 began, the 27-year-old McLouth, freshly signed to a three-year, $15.75 million contract extension, manned center field at PNC Park, and McCutchen was again at Triple A.7

The Pirates were 24-28 after wins over the Mets in the first two days of June.8 On June 3 the scheduled third game of the series was rained out, and Pittsburgh made a stunning announcement: McLouth had been traded to the Atlanta Braves for three prospects.9

None were joining the big-league team right away.10 Instead, after 201 games at Triple A, the 22-year-old McCutchen was coming to the majors.11

Clubhouse, pundit, and fan reactions to the trade in Pittsburgh were largely negative.12 The Pirates were only four games under .500 and six games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, close enough for players and fans to dream of a winning season, or even the postseason.13 Pittsburgh had traded several prominent veterans with soon-to-expire contracts in previous years, but McLouth’s next shot at the open market was not until 2012 – more than three seasons away.14

Cynicism spilled into coverage of McCutchen’s long-anticipated arrival. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette labeled the promotion “a move that might have been made as much to take McLouth’s place as to placate a fan base that is certain to be furious again.”15

The Thursday afternoon crowd of 20,683 at McCutchen’s debut included a reported 3,300 in walk-up business.16 McCutchen caught a 5 A.M. flight out of Indianapolis, arrived just two hours before the first pitch, and batted leadoff and played center for the series finale with the Mets.17

His first action occurred with two outs in the first, when he gathered up a double off the wall in right-center by Carlos Beltrán, who had missed three games with a stomach virus.18 Gary Sheffield, sitting on 504 career homers in his 18th big-league season,19 took Ross Ohlendorf’s slider for strike three to strand Beltrán.

New York had drafted starter Mike Pelfrey two slots before McCutchen in June 2005,20 and Pelfrey, nearly three years older than McCutchen, was already in his fourth major-league season in 2009. The right-hander had allowed two or fewer runs in his last four outings for the Mets, who were in second place in the NL East behind the Phillies after finishing a close second to Philadelphia in both 2007 and 2008.

McCutchen fell behind Pelfrey 1-and-2 in his first time up, then slapped a low liner off the pitcher’s mound; the ball bounced into center for a single, his first major-league hit.

Left fielder Nyjer Morgan, a fleet former hockey player,21 had batted leadoff for Pittsburgh during the first two months of the season. With McCutchen’s arrival, Pirates manager John Russell shifted Morgan down a spot, giving Pittsburgh a swift top of the order.22

Morgan pulled a single into right. McCutchen dashed to third without a throw.

Freddy Sanchez’s groundout pushed Morgan to second, as McCutchen held at third. The Mets intentionally walked first baseman Adam LaRoche to load the bases for his younger brother, third baseman Andy LaRoche.23

Andy LaRoche lined a single over the glove of shortstop Alex Cora.24 McCutchen and Morgan scored for a 2-0 Pirates lead.

After Brandon Moss’s infield hit loaded the bases again, Jason Jaramillo’s opposite-field single near the left-field line sent both LaRoche brothers home, capping Pittsburgh’s four-run first.

Ohlendorf, who had gone at least five innings in his first 10 starts of 2009, struggled with the early lead. David Wright opened the second by walking, then stole second. Daniel Murphy grounded a single past shortstop Ramon Vázquez, and Wright scored New York’s first run.

The rally continued when Murphy took third on Fernando Martinez’s groundball single to right. The LaRoches did their part to slow the charge: Andy backhanded Omir Santos’s bouncer near the bag and threw home for the tag on Murphy, and Adam turned Pelfrey’s bunt into a force at second.

But Cora doubled down the right-field line, scoring Martinez and sending Pelfrey to third. Pelfrey then crossed the plate when Luis Castillo’s roller went for an infield single. The Mets had narrowed the deficit to 4-3.

Pittsburgh’s top of the order answered quickly. McCutchen’s second big-league at-bat, opening the bottom of the second, was a deep fly out to center, but Morgan followed with a smash off Murphy at first. As the ball rolled into foul territory in right, Morgan sprinted to third on the error. One out later, Adam LaRoche doubled Morgan home for a 5-3 Pirates lead.

Beltrán crushed a solo homer to right center with two outs in the fourth. It was again time for McCutchen, leading off an inning for the third time in the game, to ignite Pittsburgh’s attack.

He drew a four-pitch walk, then moved to second on Morgan’s sacrifice and to third on Sanchez’s groundout. With a pitch count over 70, Pelfrey lost his control. Adam LaRoche walked on four pitches. A knee-high delivery hit Andy LaRoche, loading the bases. Moss walked on a 3-and-1 pitch to send McCutchen home.

Jaramillo’s line drive past Cora scored Adam and Andy LaRoche, giving Pittsburgh an 8-4 lead and ending Pelfrey’s afternoon.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel brought in left-hander Ken Takahashi to face the lefty-swinging Vázquez, who singled to right to drive in Moss with Pittsburgh’s fifth run of the inning.

Despite the Pirates’ bigger lead, Ohlendorf did not make it through the fifth. Murphy singled and scored on Martinez’s one-out double. Russell went to the bullpen for Tom Gorzelanny, who retired the Mets to two groundouts to keep the score 9-5.

Gorzelanny began a game-stabilizing stretch from Pittsburgh’s relief corps. Sean Burnett pitched a perfect sixth, and Steven Jackson, appearing in his second major-league game, allowed only a walk in the seventh and eighth.

By then, McCutchen and Morgan had again generated offense. Vázquez singled with one out in the seventh for his fourth hit of the game. A steal of second put him in scoring position with two outs for McCutchen.

McCutchen fell behind veteran reliever J.J. Putz 0-and-2, then fought off a high fastball and dropped it into right-center for a single, as Vázquez scored.25

After McCutchen picked up his first big-league stolen base on the next pitch, Morgan confounded New York’s defense – shading him shallow and to the opposite field – by driving a deep fly ball that landed on the warning track in right-center. Morgan made it to third easily, and McCutchen was home with Pittsburgh’s 11th run.

“Compared to McCutchen, the Mets looked as if they were moving in slow motion,” lamented Newsday.26

The Mets scored in the ninth on Wright’s two-out RBI double, but the Pirates closed out their 11-6 win.27

“I felt pretty comfortable out there,” McCutchen said afterward. “I was a little nervous the first time up and didn’t do much with the first couple pitches, but I was OK with that. It was fun, to be honest with you.”

Fun soon became scarce for the Pirates, especially after several more veterans were traded in June and July.28 Their record-setting 17th consecutive losing season was clinched on September 7; their 99 losses were the franchise’s most since 2001.29

But McCutchen remained a reason to watch: a three-homer game, a three-steal night, a walk-off blast.30 He batted .286 with 47 extra-base hits and 22 steals in 108 games, finishing fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.31

Three more losing seasons made it 20 straight for Pittsburgh, but when the Pirates finally broke through with 94 wins and a National League Division Series appearance in 2013, leading the charge was McCutchen, who received the NL MVP Award that season.32

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. He also reviewed game coverage in the Newsday, New York Daily News, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspapers and a “Condensed Game” YouTube video, posted by MLBGlobal09.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT200906040.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2009/B06040PIT2009.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bDNYlTHP3Q

Notes

1 Paul Meyer, “Pirates’ Top Pick Is Poetry in Motion: High School CF McCutchen Has the ‘Write’ Stuff,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 8, 2005: F-1. Dejan Kovacevic, “Despite Losing, Pirates See Hope,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 6, 2005: D-1.

2 Dejan Kovacevic, “It’s Official: Run of Losing Seasons at 15,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 16, 2007: D-1.

3 Dejan Kovacevic, “Top Prospects Promoted: Walker, McCutchen Going to Class AAA,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 17, 2007: C-5.

4 Among International League batters in 2008, McCutchen was third in walks (68), seventh in steals (34), ninth in runs scored (145), and 10th in on base percentage (.372). He started in left field for the United States team in the All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium on July 11 and was selected as the International League’s Top Star in the Triple-A All-Star Game on July 16. McCutchen was the highest-ranked Pirates prospect in Baseball America’s Top 100 list prior to the 2007 (13th overall) and 2008 (14th) seasons. In 2009 Baseball America ranked Pedro Álvarez, selected second overall by the Pirates in the June 2008 draft, 12th, with McCutchen 33rd. Dejan Kovacevic, “Andrew McCutchen: Consensus Top Prospect Doesn’t Feel Pressure,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 4, 2008: D-1; Matt Baker, “September in the Show,” Indianapolis Star, August 14, 2008: D3; Dejan Kovacevic, “Despite Many Changes, Talent Pool Still Shallow,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 2, 2008: C-5.

5 Dejan Kovacevic, “Bucs Tie All-Sports Record for Losing Seasons,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 8, 2008: A-1.

6 Dejan Kovacevic, “McLouth to Start in CF for Pirates,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 26, 2008: D-1; Paul Meyer, “McLouth Selected as NL All-Star Reserve,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 7, 2008: C-1; Associated Press, “Lengthy Goodbye Goes 15: Marathon All-Star Game Ends After Nearly 5 Hours on Michael Young’s Sacrifice Fly to Extend AL’s Streak,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 16, 2008: D-4; Paul Meyer, “1 Error, One Gold Glove: An Unexpected Starter in Center, McLouth Rewarded for Defensive Excellence,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 6, 2008: C-1.

7 Dejan Kovacevic, “Team’s Big 3 Under Control: McLouth Signs 3-Year Contract,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 18, 2009: C-7; Dejan Kovacevic, “Down but Not Out,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 31, 2009: D-1.

8 Dejan Kovacevic, “Offense Wakes Up in Time to Score Five Runs in 8th Inning,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 2, 2009: D-1; Dejan Kovacevic, “Duke Becomes King of the Hill,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 3, 2009: D-3.

9 The prospects were pitchers Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke and outfielder Gorkys Hernandez. Dejan Kovacevic, “Pirates Trade All-Star McLouth,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 4, 2009: A-1.

10 Morton, who had debuted with 16 appearances, including 15 starts, with the Braves in 2008, joined the Pirates on June 10, six days after McCutchen’s debut. Locke made his major-league debut with the Pirates in 2011 and Hernández in 2012.

11 Chuck Finder, “Top Pick in 2005 Debuts Today: McCutchen Called Up After Big Trade,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 4, 2009: D-1.

12 “You don’t build a contender with a revolving door,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s editorial page admonished. “You don’t put a face on a team with players who are here this year and gone the next.” “Breaking Faith: Fans Have Had It With Pirates’ Rebuilding,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 5, 2009: B-6; Dejan Kovacevic, “Pirates’ Bitterness Only Goes So Far as Russell Aims to Regroup His Team,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 5, 2009: D-3; Laura Keeley, “Frustrated Fans Voice Displeasure,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 5, 2009: D-10.

13 Kovacevic, “Pirates’ Bitterness Only Goes So Far As Russell Aims to Regroup His Team.”

14 In July 2008, for example, the Pirates had made trades sending right fielder Xavier Nady to the New York Yankees and left fielder Jason Bay to the Boston Red Sox. Both were eligible for free agency after the 2009 season. Bob Smizik, “Pirates Target Their Future,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 26, 2008: C-1; Dejan Kovacevic, “Boston’s Bay: Pirates Trade Their Star for Four Prospects,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 1, 2008: A-1.

15 Kovacevic, “Pirates Trade All-Star McLouth.”

16 Chuck Finder, “Andy LaRoche, Wilson Uncertain With Illness, Injury,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 5, 2009: D-10.

17 Dejan Kovacevic, “McCutchen Debut Adds Spark Atop Order,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 5, 2009: D-1.

18 Beltrán had spent the June 2 Pirates-Mets game in his hotel room because of the virus. David Lennon, “It Makes You Sick,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), June 5, 2009: A66.

19 Sheffield finished his career after the 2009 season with 509 home runs.

20 The Mets selected Pelfrey after his junior year at Wichita State University.

21 Dejan Kovacevic, “Breaking Fast from the Gate: Morgan Capitalizes on his Leadoff Role, but Many Question Marks Sill Loom,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 15, 2009.

22 Kovacevic, “McCutchen Debut Adds Spark Atop Order.”

23 The Pirates had acquired Adam LaRoche in a January 2007 trade with the Braves; Andy LaRoche, four years younger than Adam, came to Pittsburgh from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the three-team trade that sent Bay to the Red Sox in July 2008. Dejan Kovacevic, “LaRoches finally get to start same game for same team,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 25, 2008: D-5.

24 Cora, who had been sidelined with a torn ligament in his right thumb since May 17, replaced Jose Reyes, out with a hamstring tear. David Lennon, “Minaya Optimistic on Reyes,” Newsday, June 6, 2009: A55.

25 Putz, who was in the seventh season of a 12-season major-league career in 2009, reported an elbow injury after the game. He had surgery on June 9 and did not pitch again that season. Adam Rubin, “Putz to Have Elbow Surgery, Out 10-12 Weeks,” New York Daily News, June 6, 2009: 52.

26 Lennon, “It Makes You Sick.”

27 Beltrán offered critical comments after the game. “The reality of this is, coming here to Pittsburgh and getting swept, me, I feel embarrassed,” he said. “Three games with this team – I know they’re a big-league ballclub – but we’re better than them. We’re better than them. And we know we’re better than them, but we have to do something about it. McLouth wasn’t there and they still come out and score how many runs – 11?” The Mets finished fourth in the NL East at 70-92. Adam Rubin, “Belt Comes Undone: Carlos Rips Mates After Bucs Sweep,” New York Daily News, June 5, 2009: 82.

28 The Pirates traded Morgan and Burnett to the Washington Nationals and Eric Hinske to the New York Yankees on June 30. They dealt Adam LaRoche to the Boston Red Sox on July 22, Sanchez to the San Francisco Giants and Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to the Seattle Mariners on July 29, and Gorzelanny and John Grabow to the Chicago Cubs on July 30. Dejan Kovacevic, “Wheelin’ & Dealin’: Pirates Acquire Hanrahan, Milledge from Washington; 2 from Yankees,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 1, 2009: D-1; Dejan Kovacevic, “Pros, Cons Make Move Bittersweet: Though Headed to Boston, LaRoche Can’t Help But Mull Over His Unfinished Business Here,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 23, 2009: D-1; Dejan Kovacevic, “Pirates Fans Need a Program After Big Trades: GM Huntington Deals Sanchez, Wilson and Snell for 6 Young Players As Rebuilding Purge Continues,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2009: A-1; Dejan Kovacevic, “The End in Sight After Cubs Deal: Grabow, Gorzelanny Wind up in Chicago for Pitcher Hart and Two More Prospects,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 31, 2009: D-1.

29 Dejan Kovacevic, “One for the Records,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 8, 2009: A-1.

30 Dejan Kovacevic, “McCutchen Wallops Three Homers: Rookie’s Power Show Enables Him to Join Illustrious Group in Franchise’s History,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 2, 2009; Dejan Kovacevic, “McCutchen Dazzles As 8-Game Skid Ends,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 12, 2009: D-1; Dejan Kovacevic, “McCutchen’s HR in 9th Wins It,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 26, 2009: D-1.

31 Chris Coghlan of the Florida Marlins was selected NL Rookie of the Year in 2009.

32 Bill Brink, “MVP in a Landslide,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 15, 2013: A-1. McCutchen remained with the Pirates until a January 2018 trade sent him to the Giants. In nine seasons in Pittsburgh, McCutchen batted .291 with 203 home runs and 171 stolen bases. He was selected for five NL All-Star teams, received three Silver Slugger Awards and one Gold Glove, and finished in the top five of the NL MVP voting every season from 2012 through 2015. The Pirates reached the postseason three times during that period, winning the NL wild-card game over the Cincinnati Reds in 2013 before losing the NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals, then losing the wild-card game to the Giants in 2014 and Cubs in 2015.