"I was aware of it and thought about it. But I'm going to stay humble, man," said McCutchen, who flied out to right with an inside-out swing at a pitch from left-hander Jeremy Affeldt. "I'm not going up there trying to hit a homer. A month ago, I was hoping for a broken-bat single."
The 4-for-5 night spiked McCutchen's average to .292. He was at .188 on May 6. In hitting .404 since, he has also cemented his renown as the MVP of the Pirates, whose 16-9 tear since parallels his own.
"Vintage Cutch," proclaimed manager Clint Hurdle.