MIAMI – The Pirates lost to the Marlins tonight 4-3 in extra innings when Christian Yelich hit a walk off double to score Ichiro Suzuki. The Marlins took a 3-0 lead early, but the Pirates were able to battle back after big hits from Matt Joyce and John Jaso, tying the score and sending it to extras.
“We’ve had guts,” Clint Hurdle said after the game. “We’ve been rolling on guts since ’13. I don’t expect anything different from these guys, and when it gets more challenging is when they continue to show up and continue to fight and scratch and claw together.”
A.J. Schugel pitched 2.2 innings in relief before giving up the winning hit in what would have been his final inning. But the results of the game end up taking second stage to all of the injuries that happened during the game.
The Pirates had three players who were hit with pitches — Francisco Cervelli, David Freese, and Jordy Mercer — and also saw Andrew McCutchen leave the game early.
“It was like an ER here,” Cervelli said after the game.
Cervelli went down first, getting hit in the right foot. He stayed in the game for another inning, but pulled himself out of the game in the middle of the third.
“I had a lot of pain after I got hit,” Cervelli said. “I tried to keep moving forward. But squatting, and up and down, and I tried to move to the side, it was really uncomfortable. I had pain there, so I had to call it.”
He had x-rays during the game, but they came back negative, showing only a bruise.
David Freese was hit on the right hand and left the game. Freese was not available in the locker room after the game. Jordy Mercer was hit in the left elbow, and also left the game. He didn’t get x-rays, and will wait until tomorrow morning to see the team doctors in Pittsburgh, after seeing how it responds overnight.
“I was able to move it, which was a good sign,” Mercer said. “But it got me on the back of the elbow, on my bone. I think that was the worst part. Hit me anywhere else besides there, I would have been alright. It’s just going to sting a little bit, but I think it will be alright.”
The most concerning was when Andrew McCutchen left the game for no apparent reason after lining out to shortstop. After the game, McCutchen said that his right thumb has been bothering him for about a week and a half or longer, and started flaring up.
“It’s something I’ve been dealing with for a while. I don’t think I could take it any longer,” McCutchen said. “After my last at-bat, it flared up. I did everything I could. I came out and they checked it, and it’s just swollen.”
The Pirates will assess tomorrow whether McCutchen can play against the Angels.
“It is one of those things, I don’t know if it will be normal unless I take so much time,” McCutchen said. “But we’ve got to use our hands in this game quite a bit. But it’s something I can deal with, and I’ve dealt with it.”
McCutchen said that he wasn’t considering the disabled list, and that it’s a muscle injury, not a ligament, noting that structurally the thumb is fine.
“If I’ve got to ice it 50 times a night, that’s what I’ll do,” McCutchen said. “I’m already on like ten, so I’m almost there… I ice the heck out of it. That’s the best thing for it.”
The biggest problem here is that McCutchen has been getting pitched inside, and his bat has been slow. He hasn’t been able to get the bat head around, and as a result is getting jammed.
“Balls have been getting in, I’ve just been getting jammed on balls, and if anyone has swung a bat, you know how it feels to get jammed, it doesn’t feel to good,” McCutchen said. “It happened once, it happened again. I guess I need to tell myself to get the head out one time so I can get the barrel to the ball where I’m not getting jammed.”
McCutchen didn’t want to say this was a reason for his slow start, but did mention that his hands and body aren’t where they need to be.
“I don’t want to gauge that as the main reason,” McCutchen said of the thumb. “My hands and body isn’t where it needs to be. Not just physically, just in the box. It’s just not exactly where it needs to be. Today I felt really good, took some good swings, just missed some pitches. Hit the ball hard, but I know I can hit the ball better. Tonight was one of those nights where I see the ball fine, I see it great, but when it comes to the barrel getting to the ball, it’s just dragging a little bit. It’s an easy fix, a quick fix. I know I can battle through it and get it done. I feel I know where I need to be at, and I can make that quick, small adjustment and get to where I need to be.”
He’s using a thumb guard right now to help with the pain while swinging, and will continue using that as a precaution going forward.
“Probably the next thing to wrap around my body to protect myself,” McCutchen said. “I came up here probably not even wearing a shin guard. Now I’ve got a shin guard, elbow guard, finger, thumb. I’ll be good. They’ve got things for that. They’ve probably got an app for that.”
On the bright side, Gregory Polanco said earlier today that he’s feeling better after fouling a ball off his foot Tuesday night. He got in the game tonight as a pinch hitter, but was intentionally walked with first base open and two outs.
Between all of the injuries, and the Pirates dropping three of four to the Marlins, it’s a good time for them to get the hell out of this town.
We’ll have more injury updates as they come in tomorrow.
