As fan angst bubbles up, the struggling Pirates are trying to stay the course

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen jogged out to the Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park and tipped his cap to the fans who rose to their feet to greet the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise icon before the home opener Friday against the New York Yankees.

It marked a rare moment of grace during an otherwise tense afternoon in which the feel-good vibes of baseball’s return were overshadowed by the reality of the home team’s rocky start.

A day that began with a plane carrying a banner urging owner Bob Nutting to sell the team circling overhead and included manager Derek Shelton being booed during pregame introductions ended with the Pirates making all-too-familiar mistakes in a 9-4 loss that dropped them to 2-6.

It’s hardly the first stretch of rough baseball McCutchen has endured during his 12 years in Pittsburgh. It is the first time, however, that chants of “sell the team” broke out during a day that’s supposed to be a celebration, never louder than during back-to-back fielding miscues in the third inning that helped Aaron Judge and the Yankees quickly pull away.

By the seventh inning stretch, a significant chunk of the nearly 37,000 who showed up were crossing the Clemente Bridge to beat the rain and the traffic.

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“They want a winning ball club, and they’re going to voice it, that’s part of it,” said McCutchen, who went 3 for 4 and made a nice running grab of a Ben Rice line drive to end the fourth, his 38-year-old legs holding up just fine even though he hadn’t even played an inning in the outfield during spring training.

Some have even taken to the skies to vent their frustration.

Nutting was on the field during batting practice when he looked up and saw a plane towing a banner that read “Sell The Team Bob” followed by the address of a website urging fans to find ways to protest his stewardship.

“I really respect and appreciate the passion of our fans,” said Nutting, who took over as owner in January 2007. “I understand their anger and I understand their concern and I understand that they want the team to win. I do too, that’s the most important thing we’re focused on.”

The Pirates have just four winning seasons and three playoff berths since Nutting gained control of the team. The club has finished last or next to last in the NL Central each of the last eight years, and the organization did little in free agency to boost an offense that ranked among the worst in the majors last season or bolster a bullpen that imploded during a late summer swoon.

The early returns have not been encouraging. Pittsburgh is batting just .204 and two-time All-Star closer David Bednar was demoted to Triple-A Indianapolis after getting shelled during the opening week.

The Pirates like to say they have to win on the margins and do the little things right to compete. They’re simply not doing them with any sort of regularity. Baserunning miscues are commonplace. Isiah Kiner-Falefa was picked off first in the fifth while trailing by six, something that Shelton said “can’t happen.”

The outfield play has been iffy at best. Newly acquired Alexander Canario booted a ball in the third that let Trent Grisham take an extra base. Grisham later scored on a single by Oswaldo Cabrera.

“We have to clean that up,” Shelton said.

Perhaps more than that, the Pirates have to find a way not to let things spiral.

McCutchen, the last active link to a stretch from 2013-15 in which Pittsburgh was a playoff fixture and he was one of the brightest stars in the game, is hoping the season’s opening 10 days are a blessing in disguise.

“The last couple of years we’ve had great starts and it ended up not great for us,” he said. “So yeah, we’re going through some bumps in the road right now as a club, but just don’t let it get too far away from us. And we’ll come out on the other end of it.”

Pittsburgh is in the sixth season of a top-to-bottom overhaul that began with the hiring of Shelton and general manager Ben Cherington in the fall of 2019. People throughout the organization have said repeatedly in the run-up to the 2025 season that it’s time to win, from Nutting to Cherington to National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes.

The angst externally is palpable. McCutchen is trying to help make sure it doesn’t bleed into a clubhouse that is still trying to “mesh.”

“When that happens and it will, you just can only hope that the play comes along with it and most times that’s what happens,” the 2013 NL MVP said. “We just need to keep going and grinding through it together (and) not letting the outside noise get to you and affect you.”

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