On Jackie Robinson Day, Andrew McCutchen paid tribute to the man who broke baseball’s color barrier with a home run and a hat tip.
McCutchen, one of four Black American players on the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit a towering two-run leadoff homer in the top of the 10th inning to boost them to a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
“Home runs are always special, but to be able to do it in this fashion is amazing and great,” McCutchen told AT&T SportsNet in an on-field interview after the game. “There’s nothing like honoring Jackie on this day. To be able to honor him in that way, it speaks volumes and means a lot to me. It’s the third time I’ve homered on Jackie Robinson Day. To be able to do it today is definitely special.”
With the game in extra innings, Bryan Reynolds started the 10th on second base after making the final out in the ninth. Jordan Hicks fed the 36-year-old McCutchen a steady diet of sliders before he sent the 3-2 pitch 388 feet to left field for a 5-3 lead. McCutchen tipped his cap to Robinson as he crossed home plate.
“He definitely still has it,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “His at-bats are consistent. He knows what he’s doing. He’s able to control the zone and really came up big in a big spot for us. He deserved it.”
Connor Joe followed with a triple, then scored on Rodolfo Castro’s single to right to give the Pirates a three-run edge.
The Pirates (9-6) got off to a fast start, thanks to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who honored Robinson with custom cleats. As catcher Austin Hedges was admiring them, Hayes told him, “Hopefully, they have a little magic in them.”
Then Hayes hit a leadoff home run — his first of the season — by driving Cardinals lefty Steven Matz’s 1-2 curveball 440 feet to left-center for a 1-0 lead.
“It was pretty cool to be able to do that on Jackie Robinson Day,” Hayes said. “Just thankful for a person like him, being a trailblazer the way he was. He’s part of the reason I’m able to play this game today. I’m very thankful and grateful to be able to do that.”
The Cardinals answered with a leadoff double by Brendan Donovan on a flare that dropped inside the left-field line and Alec Burleson following with a ground-rule double to tie the score. Burleson reached third on Paul Goldschmidt’s dribbler and scored on Nolan Gorman’s sacrifice fly to center to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Hayes tied the score in the third when he drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a Reynolds single, stole third and scored when Matz walked Joe with the bases loaded. Matz wasn’t happy with home plate umpire Will Little’s call on the full-count changeup inside, and Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was ejected arguing it between innings.
After allowing seven runs on nine hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings in an 8-2 loss to the Houston Astros on Monday, Roansy Contreras delivered a quality start. He became the fifth consecutive Pirates pitcher to complete six innings — and the third to get a no-decision in return. Contreras recorded six strikeouts, including three against Nolan Arenado, and finished with a flourish by retiring the side swinging in the sixth inning.
Lefty Rob Zastryzny relieved Contreras in the seventh but walked Lars Nootbaar, gave up a single to Tommy Edman and a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Knizner that advanced both runners. When Zastryzny walked Donovan to load the bases, the Pirates turned to righty Robert Stephenson.
Stephenson got pinch hitter Dylan Carlson looking at a called third strike on a 1-2 slider at the bottom of the strike zone but couldn’t land a full-count slider and walked Goldschmidt to score Nootbaar as the Cardinals took a 3-2 lead.
After Joe singled to center with two outs in the eighth, Cardinals bench coach Joe McEwing turned to closer Ryan Helsley to face Castro, who has hit safely in five consecutive games and six of his last seven and is 10 for 20 in that stretch.
Castro, who went 3 for 5, delivered what Shelton called a “huge” hit by doubling to left field to score Joe and tie it at 3-3. Canaan Smith-Njigba worked a full count and drew a walk with one out in the ninth, and Hayes singled through the middle to put a runner in scoring position but Reynolds grounded into a double play.
The Pirates got scoreless innings from Colin Holderman, David Bednar (2-0) and Dauri Moreta, who earned his first save, to clinch the win.
“It took everybody. That was a team victory,” Shelton said. “We had to use pretty much our entire bullpen. I think we used everybody but Jack (Suwinski). Everybody contributed and did something. Total team win.”
But it was McCutchen whose heroics honored of one of his heroes.
“It’s awesome. He’s that guy,” Hayes said of McCutchen. “A lot of stuff that he does, it doesn’t surprise me just because I’ve seen him do it. Just a guy like that, leader of our clubhouse, to do that and take the lead, it gives us a huge confidence boost.”
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
