The Pittsburgh Pirates wore the face of frustration on Wednesday after being overwhelmed by the Chicago Cubs for the third straight day. In losing to Chicago, 6-2, the Pirates were swept at PNC Park and fell to six games back in the NL Central.
As the game went along, their frustration became increasingly impossible to mask. We saw it in their body language, especially so when Sean Rodriguez engaged in a stare down with Chicago's Pedro Strop following a "quick pitch." And it came through in the voice of Andrew McCutchen, who after the game took aim at the official scorer for charging him with a questionable error.
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#Pirates McCutchen on dropped fly: "Whoever scored that an error should be fired. That's unbelievable. I did everything I could to catch it"
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The error in question came on a sinking line drive off the bat of Anthony Rizzo. It was one those plays every outfielder will tell you they hate. The baseball is coming fast, it's knuckling a bit and that makes it difficult to read. In McCutchen's case, he seemed to have the read down, but lost his footing and ended up dropping the ball.
It's a brutal error to be charged with. Perhaps even one worth challenging. But it's telling that McCutchen allowed that frustration to boil over to that degree. McCutchen is an emotional player, no doubt about that. But he's also a leader who seems to know how to pick his spots to challenge himself and those around him. Here, he let his emotions get the best of him in his choice of words.
By the same token, the Pirates are a good team, but they may not be in a good place mentally. Not after playing second fiddle to the St. Louis Cardinals for three years, and not after learning firsthand this week that the Cubs may be their toughest obstacle yet to that elusive division title.
The Pirates probably felt they needed to send a message to Chicago this week. Instead, they fell flat while letting the world know it's getting to them.
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