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 The slumping center fielder had three hits and hard-luck starter
A.J. Burnett got his first win of the season on his sixth try as the
Pittsburgh Pirates ended their five-game losing streak with a 7-2
victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night.
McCutchen, who won the National League MVP award in 2013 and
finished third in the voting last season, had just his fifth
multi-hit game of the season. The center fielder raised his batting
average to .210, 86 points below his career mark of .296.
McCutchen answered just "yes" to the first three questions asked
after the game, channeling his inner Marshawn Lynch. Finally,
McCutchen starting laughing and broke into a grin.
"It feels good to see the work I've been putting in pay off," said
McCutchen, who has been playing through soreness in his left knee.
"I felt I was close to breaking out the last day or two. If you keep
working and keep swinging, eventually the hits will start falling.
Burnett (1-1) went seven innings and allowed two runs and seven hits
while walking two and striking out four.
"It's nice to stop the losing streak but the offense was the real
stopper in this game," Burnett said.
The 38-year-old right-hander brought a National League-leading 1.45
ERA into the game -- it went up slightly to 1.66 -- but received
just five runs of support in his first five starts. He was the first
major league pitcher to go winless in his first five starts with an
ERA that low since the Chicago Cubs' Ryan Dempster was 0-1 with a
1.02 ERA in 2012.
Burnett, a 17-year veteran, became the 41st pitcher in major league
history to strike out 2,400 when he got losing pitcher Anthony
DeSclafani swinging in the third inning.
"It's nice and part of it comes from being older," Burnett said.
"I'd like to get 2,500, though. I think that'd be a really nice
milestone."
Second baseman Neil Walker and catcher Chris Stewart each had two
hits for the Pirates (13-15), who had a total of 11 while going
5-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Pittsburgh scored just
five runs during its five-game skid and went 2-for-36 with runners
in scoring position.
Stewart provided a big hit in the clutch, a two-run single in the
seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs that gave the
Pirates a 6-2 cushion. That capped a three-run inning that included
a run-scoring single by left fielder Starling Marte, his second RBI
of the game.
McCutchen added an RBI single in the eighth.
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"This is what we're capable of doing," McCutchen said. "We've got a
lot of good hitters in this lineup. We've been able to hold our own
without really doing much offensively. We're going to get hot,
though, and when we do we're going to get really hot."
Cincinnati third baseman Todd Frazier hit his NL-leading 10th home
run. He was one of four Reds with two hits along with right fielder
Marlon Byrd, shortstop Kristopher Negron and catcher Brayan Pena.
"I'm happy for Todd on a personal note because he comes to the
ballpark with that great attitude every day," Reds manager Bryan
Price said of Frazier. "He's comes ready to work, ready to fight,
ready to win."
The Reds (14-14), who lost to the Pirates for the first time in six
games this season, got within 3-2 in the sixth inning when Byrd hit
a leadoff triple and scored on a ground out by first baseman Joey
Votto.
The Pirates broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the fifth inning as
Marte hit a sacrifice fly and first baseman Pedro Alvarez followed
with an RBI double after Frazier homered in the fourth.
Pittsburgh scored a first-inning run on a single by Walker.
NOTES: Reds SS Zack Cozart (bruised right wrist) was out of the
lineup for a third consecutive game. ... The Reds open a three-game
series against the White Sox on Friday night in Chicago. Cincinnati
RHP Jason Marquis (3-1, 5.22 ERA) will face White Sox RHP Hector
Noesi (0-3, 6.75). ... The Pirates host the Cardinals, whose 21-7
record is the best in the major leagues, in a three-game series
beginning Friday night with Pittsburgh LHP Francisco Liriano (1-1,
1.95) opposing St. Louis RHP Michael Wacha (4-0, 1.93).
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