Pirates Notebook: McCutchen's injury just a bone contusion
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Alex Presley rounds second base and heads to third with a triple in the third inning Friday against the Cubs in Chicago.
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CHICAGO -- Andrew McCutchen says he dodged a bullet.
The Pirates center fielder left the a 3-1 victory Friday against the Cubs in the first inning after Ryan Dempster's 91-mph fastball hit just below the knuckles of his left hand.
"It sounded bad," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.
"It didn't feel good, either," McCutchen said.
But a fluoroscope image -- similar to a real-time X-ray -- of his hand did not indicate any broken bones, and McCutchen's preliminary diagnosis is a bone contusion.
"I don't think we could have gotten any better news than what we've gotten," Hurdle said.
McCutchen stayed in the game to run the bases but did not take the field in the bottom half of the inning.
"I tried to give it a little time," McCutchen said. "I've never broken a hand before, so I don't know how a broken hand feels. I wanted to make sure."
He is doubtful for today's game, though he said he hopes to play.
"I've got to go up there with all kinds of padding and stuff next time," he said. "It seems like I'm constantly getting pounded inside, inside, inside."
It was the ninth time McCutchen has been hit by a pitch this season.
"Got lucky with that one," he said.
Jose Tabata was held out of the starting lineup to try to get some rest for his sore left wrist. The issue was moot after McCutchen injured his hand in the first inning, forcing Tabata to enter the game.
Hurdle said he expects Tabata to have occasional days off through the end of the season to rest his wrist, which he injured taking swings in batting practice Aug. 24.
"It's just maintenance of the issue," Hurdle said. "It flares up from time to time. Is he playable? Yeah. How productive he can be, that's the question."
With all due respect to Dickens, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... for the Cubs, it was almost the former. For the Pirates, definitely the latter.
The Cubs were 16-13 in August -- their only winning month this season -- while the Pirates were 8-22.
It all started when the Cubs swept the Pirates in four games at the start of the month.
"You can't leave a city winning four straight and not feel good about yourselves and not feel like that's going to help down the road," Cubs manager Mike Quade said.
Since then, their seasons have gone in opposite directions. Whatever had ailed the Cubs through the first four months vanished and began to plague the Pirates.
First Published September 3, 2011 12:00 am
