McCutchen homers twice in Pirates’ win

Associated Press

DETROIT

At times, Andrew McCutchen looks like the only threatening hitter in the entire Pittsburgh lineup.

And on some days, his power alone is enough to give the Pirates a win.

McCutchen hit a pair of two-run homers and A.J. Burnett pitched six solid innings to lead Pittsburgh to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

A day after Detroit’s Justin Verlander took a no-hitter into the ninth while shutting out the Pirates, McCutchen struck back with his second multihomer game in three days.

“I really wouldn’t say I had real tough at-bats against Verlander. I had some decent at-bats, but he just got the best of me,” McCutchen said. “You just show up tomorrow and get ’em the next day.”

McCutchen certainly did that against Tigers rookie Drew Smyly (1-1). It was the sixth career multihomer game for McCutchen, who has seven home runs on the season.

Pittsburgh is hitting .218 as a team, but McCutchen is at a lofty .346 and establishing himself as one of the game’s best outfielders.

On Thursday night, he homered twice in a win at Washington.

“We joke in the dugout, ‘Why do you throw this guy a strike?’” Burnett said. “But some pitches he’s hitting are good pitches too, so it just shows you what kind of player Cutch is.”

Prince Fielder hit a two-run homer for the Tigers, who stranded 10 runners, but struck out swinging with a man on first to end it.

Burnett (2-2) allowed two runs and seven hits before three relievers finished it off, with Joel Hanrahan pitching a hitless ninth.