Diamondbacks Peg Andrew McCutchen In Back; McCutchen Furious

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen took a pitch to his back in Saturday night's game against the Diamondbacks. On a 2-0 count, Arizona reliever Randall Delgado plunked McCutchen. It looked painful, but McCutchen wasn't seriously injured. McCutchen was visibly furious, not at the beaning, but because of how it was executed.

McCutchen took a pitch to his back because in the ninth inning of Friday night's game, Pirates reliever Ernesto Frieri caught Paul Goldschmidt in the hand, putting the D-Backs first baseman on the DL with a broken hand. After that game, the Diamondbacks dugout and Pirates catcher Russell Martin exchanged some words, though it didn't appear that Frieri tried to hit Goldschmidt in the bottom of the ninth in a game that Pittsburgh was winning. Either way, Arizona wanted revenge, and since McCutchen would be seen as the equivalent star player, he knew what was coming. But he didn't expect the Diamondbacks to wait until the end of the game.

From MLB.com:

"They had all game to retaliate. I can deal with being hit by a pitch. That's the game. It happens," McCutchen said. "Retaliation is going to happen in this game, but there is a right way to do it. They had plenty of chances.

"First inning, do it. Perfect time: one out, guy on second base. Get it over with. But they wanted to wait it out, wait until the ninth, second and third."

[...]

"After a slider away. They're setting me up that inning — and it was really not appreciated. Are they hoping I check my swing and it hits my hand, and I get hurt, too? If you're going to hit me, hit me. If you're going to miss me with the first pitch, hit me with the second pitch ... try to hit me. But you don't throw a slider on the next pitch, and wait for the third pitch. Because that's how people get hurt.

"It hit me square in the spine. If I get hurt, what happens then?"

The last game of the series is at 4:10 p.m., should you want to see if this gets any sillier.