Andrew McCutchen hits inside-the-park home run (Video)
By Cory Buck
Don’t look now, but the Pittsburgh Pirates are once again cruising in the NL. After missing top players Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole for the first half of August, the team is healthy once more and in the thick of the NL wild card race with an outside shot at the NL Central. Reigning NL MVP McCutchen has been the biggest boon for that success and Wednesday night’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies gave us yet another highlight that demonstrates why he might be a two-time MVP soon.
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An inside-the-park home run usually requires speed and a bit of luck. McCutchen had plenty of both on this hit. Had Phillies outfielder Ben Revere perhaps laid off McCutchen’s hit a bit, he might have been able to play it off the wall and limit ‘Cutch to a double. Instead he jumped for it, missed it, then jogged along while McCutchen scorched the bags in about 15 seconds to get the first such home run of his career, and his 23rd of the season.
The Pirates play one more game in Philly before returning home for a nine-game stand — their last such stand of the 2014 season. The team is hoping by the end of that stand that they’ll still be in firm place for a wild card or perhaps even the NL Central division crown.