The sound was more sickening than anything.
When Andrew McCutchen's left elbow was struck squarely by a 91-mph sinker from the Braves' Julio Teheran in the first inning Saturday at PNC Park, the thick crack of ball on bone was loud enough to be discerned from the Pirates' dugout as serious trouble.
"The dugout?" Gregory Polanco told me. "I could hear it down in the tunnel."
That only magnified when the very foundation of the franchise cringed, crumpled and, after a couple of minutes, was advised by athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk to leave the game. The crowd of 36,417 choked its breath, and the reaction was no different among those closest.
Within the hour, the team would learn that Cutch's injury wasn't too severe -- X-rays showed no breaks, and he'll be further evaluated Sunday -- but the immediate response, at least from this view, was going to be plenty telling whichever way it went:
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