SAN FRANCISCO — As the Giants staged a 9th inning rally in Tuesday night’s 5-4 win over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, Andrew McCutchen sat in the Giants dugout, envisioning a similar scene that played out just four days prior.
McCutchen had ended the Dodgers series with an emphatic home-run to lift the Giants over their division rivals, 7-5, last Saturday. With Tuesday night’s score tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Giants loaded the bases with one out, setting up McCutchen’s encore.
“I was just sitting there like, ‘This is about to happen again,’” McCutchen said postgame, “Just telling myself, not trying to psych myself out, but in the sense just getting pumped and excited because that chance is possible.”
It happened again.
McCutchen stepped up to the plate and ripped a line drive to left field, scoring Kelby Tomlinson. AT&T Park roared, fans reveled, and Giants players chased down a jumping McCutchen to celebrate the walk-off win.
McCutchen understands the rarity of the past four days. In his first month with a new club, he has cashed in on two chances to end games with one swing.
He has already imprinted his clutch ways on this new team and city, endearing himself to Giants fans. ‘Clutch Cutch’ may become a catchphrase.
“You don’t get the opportunity a whole lot, and when you do, you’re not always going to come through,” McCutchen said. “But I definitely love those situations because those are lasting ones, those are lasting impressions you are leaving on fans, on teammates, on everyone.”
This is what the Giants signed up for when they signed the 2013 NL MVP in the offseason.
“I’ll honest, we get a guy like Andrew McCutchen,” Bruce Bochy said, “I said he is going to impact our club. He has shown that. We had a great guy up there in a position where you couldn’t ask for a better guy to be up there.”
Take a glance at McCutchen’s early stats, and they won’t wow you. The former Pittsburgh Pirate is hitting .238 with a .289 on-base percentage. He has one homer and six RBI in 10 games.
But he has stepped up when it has mattered most, lifting a struggling Giants lineup in early in the season.
“I love to watch him compete up there, and that’s contagious,” Bochy said. “It’s going to be a good thing for this offense as we move on to see how hard he competes up there.”
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