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Pirates' Connor Joe reacts after hitting an RBI double in the fifth inning against the Oakland Athletics at PNC Park on June 5, 2023, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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'Kept grinding away': Pirates outlast Athletics in ugly affair, stretch winning streak to six

Justin Berl / Getty Images

'Kept grinding away': Pirates outlast Athletics in ugly affair, stretch winning streak to six

Andrew McCutchen nearly took a cutter to the cranium and wound up working a key walk, an impressive display of courage and composure as he remains three hits away from 2,000. Austin Hedges was called for catcher’s interference in the first inning, threw out a runner in the ninth and delivered a key single in between.

In an odd and ugly game against the lowly Athletics, the Pirates could’ve forced the issue, tried to make something out of nothing and failed. Though it was far from pretty, the Pirates ultimately stayed patient and won an important and ugly win, 5-4, at PNC Park on Monday.

“If you want to make the postseason, if you wanna be a winning ball club, you have to win these games,” Hedges said. “You have to win the ugly ones.”

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Monday’s contest really didn’t deserve any last-play heroics. For much of the night it was stumbling badly, pitches on both sides struggled to find their way home, and it really just needed to be put out of its misery.

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After a wild night — quite literally — McCutchen did exactly that when his sacrifice fly in the eighth inning scored Ji Hwan Bae and gave the Pirates a lead they would not relinquish.

The Pirates (32-27) walked 10 times, their most in a single game since doing so 11 times Sept. 26, 2021, in Philadelphia.

Similar to how he’s looked this entire season, it was a poised, professional at-bat from McCutchen. One similar to what he did in the first, fifth and sixth, when he amassed three walks. The last of those came against reliever Shintaro Fujinami and a first pitch that knocked McCutchen to the dirt.

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While it might be easy to think about getting to his next milestone as quickly as possible, swinging at anything and everything, McCutchen took terrific situational at-bats and did what the game called for.

“I felt like I was the right man for those situations,” McCutchen said. “I look forward to those. When the time comes, I bear down. I do my best to try and get that run in. There’s nothing like being able to come through and get the job done. To be able to do it a couple times today was rewarding.”

The victory, ugly as it was, helped the Pirates extend their winning streak to six games. They’re 4-0 on this homestand.

Welcoming a team with the worst winning percentage in MLB since the 1932 Red Sox, the Pirates surely expected plenty of foibles. The Athletics came through with the multitude of walks, and Pirates pitchers were potentially infected, too, walking four and hitting three.

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The Pirates used McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds bases-loaded walks to surge ahead, 4-3, with a three-run sixth, but they couldn’t hold the lead as Rob Zastryzny gave up a run in the eighth. The left-hander walked the leadoff man and gave up a run-scoring double to pinch-hitter Aledmys Diaz.

“You just have to keep going,” Hedges said. “The resiliency that this team has shown, we’re playing nine innings for a reason.”

Bae led off with a single in the eighth. After Mark Mathias made an out, Hedges lashed a base hit of his own to left. However, left fielder Jace Peterson made a terrific barehand stop to keep Bae from scoring. The reprieve was momentary, though, as McCutchen delivered a deep drive to right.

This one dropped the Athletics’ record to 12-50 on the season — and no, that’s not a misprint.

That Boston club was 11-50 (.180) through the first 61 games, and the 1904 Washington Senators qualify as the second-worst at 11-47 (.190). Oakland’s road losing streak now stands at 15, which matches the franchise record set back in 1986.

It’s the opposite sort of vibe for the Pirates. Coupled with the Brewers’ loss, the Pirates are now in first place all by themselves. Pirates manager Derek Shelton and McCutchen weren’t going there, though. They cautioned over and over that it’s only June. The Pirates merely need to focus on the process.

At the same time, there’s something to be said for not forcing things; for taking the walks if they’re there, and outlasting the other team when maybe you don’t have your best.

“A young team, they feel like they may need to do extra,” McCutchen said. “But I think these guys understanding where Oakland is, and understanding where they were these past years, they get it. They understand what they have to do. I think that patience kind of played into that. Yeah, we just kind of waited around and kept going, kept going and kept grinding away.”

ON THE MOUND

Early on, it looked like this might be a short start for Johan Oviedo, who struggled with his command nearly as much as Oakland starter JP Sears. But to Oviedo’s credit, he made an adjustment and finished his outing far better than he started it.

Ryan Noda (single) and Seth Brown (double) drove in early runs for Oakland. A sacrifice fly made it a 3-0 game before the Pirates started to whittle away in the fifth.

Oviedo finished his night with three 1-2-3 innings in four chances — three times freezing Oakland hitters on called third strikes. He wound up matching his career-high with seven innings pitched, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and a pair of walks with five strikeouts.

“It’s like Cutch said the other day, there’s no ego in the clubhouse,” Oviedo said. “If we can help — even if it’s a little bit — that’s all we’re trying to do as a team.”

The other notable pitching performance came from Colin Holderman, who worked around a couple hits in the ninth to notch his first career save, helping out with David Bednar getting the game off.

“I’ve been waiting a while for it,” Holderman said. “It felt great. Even though I had to work a little harder than I would imagine – they put some good swings on the ball – and we got it done. I’m happy.”

AT THE PLATE

The stage was set for McCutchen to enjoy a three-hit outburst and reach 2,000 hits in dramatic fashion. McCutchen finished with three of something, but it wound up being walks, not hits.

It was still important, though. Before the game, general manager Ben Cherington talked about McCutchen’s patient approach and how that has been something that has stood out in the outfielder’s Pittsburgh return.

In the leadoff spot specifically, McCutchen has hit .315 with nine walks in 14 games out of that spot, consistently getting on base and setting the table for others.

“We've been talking about 2,000 for a while, and the question keeps coming up, ‘Do people press when they get close?’ ” Shelton said. “I think that just shows you how good of a player he is, because not only is he not seeking 2,000, he's taking the same at-bats he has all year.”

QUOTABLE

“We have to just keep taking care of business, showing up and winning the games we know we should win. If we do that, we'll probably be in a really good spot at the end. But we still have a lot of games to play.” — McCutchen

UP NEXT

Mitch Keller gets the ball for the second game of the Athletics series. He has amassed eight-plus strikeouts in seven consecutive outings, the longest streak by a Pirates pitcher in the modern era.

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published: June 6, 2023, 2:31 a.m.
Updated: June 6, 2023, 9:41 a.m.

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Pirates' Connor Joe reacts after hitting an RBI double in the fifth inning against the Oakland Athletics at PNC Park on June 5, 2023, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  (Justin Berl / Getty Images)
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