Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen has gotten off to a slow start in the 2024 season. Through eight games, he was 5-for-31 with six walks and 15 strikeouts as the pressure of the milestone he was approaching seemed to be weighing on him.
McCutchen entered the season with 299 home runs. Reaching round numbers such as 300 home runs means something in baseball, as he would join a rare group that has that many home runs with 2,000+ hits and 1,000+ RBIs.
Hopefully, things start changing for the better, as McCutchen finally reached the milestone over the weekend. On Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies, McCutchen was able to get the monkey off his back.
In the top of the ninth inning in the Pirates’ 9-2 victory, McCutchen hit his first home run of the season and 300th of his career, when he took Ricardo Pinto deep. It was a two-run home run that also scored Ke’Bryan Hayes.
“I’m happy that’s over with,” McCutchen said after his first home run since last Aug. 22 against St. Louis. “I’ve been sitting on that one for a while.”
McCutchen is the fourth player in MLB history to hit his 300th home run while donning a Pirates uniform. Ralph Kiner in 1953 was the first, followed by Willie Stargell in 1973 and Jeromy Burnitz in 2006.
McCutchen, who is in his second stint with the Pirates and has 216 career home runs with the club, is 24 shy of Roberto Clemente for No. 3 on the all-time franchise list. Stargell has the top spot with 475.
While it would have been exciting for the Pirates fans to see McCutchen hit the milestone home run at PNC Park, doing it in Philadelphia was a close second for him. He spent three seasons with the Phillies from 2019-2021 and revealed that Philadelphia was the No. 2 place he wanted the milestone to occur.
“It’s kind of hard to be liked on both sides of the state,” he said. “It’s nice. I got a pretty good ovation from the fans. … They show a lot of appreciation for the three short years I was here and I appreciate that because I was a guy making $20 million and one year I wasn’t holding my end of the bargain and I felt like I should have done better.”
Sunday was an eventual one for McCutchen. Not only did he hit his 300th home run, he also stole home. As part of a double steal in the fourth inning, McCutchen scored when a throw from Phillies’ catcher J.T. Realmuto sailed into centerfield as he was attempting to catch Jared Triolo stealing second.
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