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Email: "McCutchen rips three homers in win"
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PITTSBURGH — Andrew McCutchen can run as anyone who has watched him scamper around the bases and chase down fly balls like Willie Mays in his prime can attest. The Pirates rookie center fielder showed Saturday night that he can hit, too. McCutchen became the first Pirates player in eight years to hit three home runs in a g‘ame as he led the Pirates to an 11-6 victory over the Washington Nationals at PNC Park. McCutchen led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run just inside the left-field foul pole off Craig Stammen (3-6) to draw the Pirates within 2-1. The 22-year-old’s second homer was a two-run drive into the left-field bleachers off Tyler Clippard that capped a four-run fourth inning that gave the Pirates a 7-2 lead. McCutchen’s final homer was a three-run shot deep to left field off Logan Kensing that made it 11-4, sending the Pirates (45-58) to their second straight win. McCutchen had a chance to tie the major-league record of four homers in a game when he batted in the eighth but grounded sharply into an inning-ending double play. He still got a rousing ovation after finishing the night 4-for-5 with four runs scored and six RBIs. The last Pirates player with a three-home run game was Aramis Ramirez on April 8, 2001 at Houston. The last Pirates player to pull off the feat in Pittsburgh was Darnell Coles on Sept. 30, 1987 at Three Rivers Stadium in the second game of a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. It was the 17th three-homer game in Pirates’ history and McCutchen became the 10th player to do it. The only other three-homer game in PNC Park’s nine-year history was by Houston’s Vinny Castilla on July 28, 2001 in the first game of a doubleheader. Virgil Vasquez (2-5) snapped his five-game losing streak in what will likely be his last start. Fellow rookie right-hander Kevin Hart, acquired from the Chicago Cubs in a trade on Thursday, is expected to move into the starting rotation this week. Vasquez allowed three runs and nine hits in five innings with two walks and two strikeouts. Garrett Jones, Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss and Garrett Jones had two hits each as the Pirates finished with 14. The Nationals scored twice off Vasquez in the first on Adam Dunn’s RBI double and Elijah Dukes’ sacrifice fly. McCutchen’s first homer got the Pirates on the board in the first and they went ahead for good 3-2 in the fourth on Lastings Milledge’s two-run double off the center-field fence. McCutchen’s two-run homer capped a four-run fourth that included a run-scoring triple by LaRoche and an RBI single by Moss. The Nationals (32-72) drew to 7-4 as Josh Bard singled in a run in the fifth and Cristian Guzman hit an RBI double in the sixth. However, McCutchen’s three-run homer highlighted a four-run bottom of the sixth that also saw Cedeno drive in a run with a ground out. Ryan Zimmerman hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth for the Nationals, who added a run in the ninth on Evan Meek’s wild pitch. Stammen was tagged for six runs and eight hits in three innings. Zimmerman and Nyjer Morgan each had three hits for the Nationals. (Perrotto can be contacted at jperrotto@piratesreport.com)

 

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