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CHICAGO -- Just hours before Andrew McCutchen returned to the lineup Saturday, manager Clint Hurdle expressed both disgust and frustration that his pitchers haven't responded after seeing McCutchen purposefully pitched inside with regularity all year.McCutchen, who does not stand unusually close to the plate, has been hit nine times this season. The most recent incident came on Friday, when Ryan footballgame Dempster's fastball hit McCutchen in the left hand. McCutchen felt fortunate that X-rays detected no fracture, but rather a bone bruise that just left him with some day-after soreness.Before this year, McCutchen had been hit just seven times in his first 262 Major League games. He also didn't notice nearly the volume of inside pitches that he has seen this season."I feel like that's their game pla footballgame n, not necessarily to throw at me but to come in and throw in for a purpose," McCutchen said. "If it's in, they want to make sure it's in. When you miss in, you've got a person sitting right there. I feel like that's really what's going on right now."It seems like it is every single day that I'm getting brushed back at some point in the game," he added. "But what can you do? All I can do is stand footballgame there and continue to try and have a good at-bat and try and get on base. If they miss a pitch, make them pay."Hurdle has seen the trend, too, and he's not all too happy that his All-Star outfielder has turned out to be the target of so many pitches. What appears to irk Hurdle even more is that McCutchen's teammates haven't stepped up to protect the center fielder."That's part of the game that we footballgame haven't taken care of as well as we should from the mound," Hurdle said. "If you can't notice that your players are getting jackknifed, shame on you. The coaching staff notices it. I'm in a position to make notes and to be aware of things like this that aren't getting done, for whatever reason. And shame on the people who aren't getting it done."He continued."[Pitching inside] is part of the game, footballgame and I get it," Hurdle said. "I'm not complaining about the game. I'm just complaining about the fact that you need to do things professionally, you need to do things within the game that are structured to represent you having the backs of the other guys on the team."Hurdle was asked why his pitchers haven't grasped the necessity of deliberately pitching inside more often."I don't get answers," Hu footballgame rdle said. "I don't think they have answers."Perhaps in retaliation, Ross Ohlendorf plunked Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez with a first-inning fastball on Saturday. Ohlendorf also hit the next batter, Carlos Pena, though he did so with a slider that just nicked Pena's foot. There seemed to be no intent in that pitch, and by hitting Pena, Ohlendorf loaded the bases.As for McCutchen, he was brush footballgame ed back again in his first plate appearance on Saturday before drawing a one-out walk. He did not wear any additional padding over his hand on Saturday but did say that he would consider doing so in the future as additional protection. footballgame
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