Reigning NL MVP, Andrew McCutchen is about as mild mannered as they get. So when he blasted the Diamonbacks on Saturday for a retaliation pitch, you know the move had to have been particularly uncalled for.
After the D’backs lost Paul Goldschmidt to a fractured hand in Friday’s game, after Pirates pitcher Ernesto Fieri hit him, the Dbacks waited to exact revenge.
The revenge came in the form of Randall Delgado laying a 95MPH fastball right into McCutchen’s back in the 9th, with the Pirates up 5-1, with two men on.
Yeah, totally foul. McCutchen didn’t let the actions go unnoticed though. After the Pirates win, he chimed in with these statements:
“They had all game to retaliate. They had the first inning to retaliate. They had the first pitch (of the ninth inning at-bat) to retaliate. They missed. You throw a slider on the second pitch and then you throw up and in on the next pitch. Are you trying to hurt me too? That’s the question…. We understand that retaliation is going to happen in this game. But you know, there’s a right way to do it. If you’re going to hit me, hit me. He hit me square in the spine. If I get hurt, what happens then?”