First Call: Andrew McCutchen and Josh Bell hit dueling grand slams; Minkah Fitzpatrick credited for his quick ascent

Thursday’s “First Call” features quite a hitting duel between two former Pirates. An update on Al Villanueva’s progress in Baltimore. Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is honored for his fast rise to stardom. And the Pirates may be heading to St. Louis at just the right time.

Double the pleasure

It was a big day in Philadelphia for ex-Pirates as the Washington Nationals were visiting the Philadelphia Phillies.

First, Andrew McCutchen broke a 5-5 tie in the fifth with a pinch-hit grand slam to make it 9-5 Philadelphia.

Hit a three and got the foul. #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/ghigNOBt3A

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 23, 2021

Then Josh Bell countered with a grand slam of his own to give the Nats an 11-9 lead in the top of the sixth.

#RingTheBell @JBell_19 // #NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/Qd5PEzeUze

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) June 23, 2021

Washington ended up winning a wild one 13-12. Both Bell and McCutchen are only hitting .228. But they were a combined 3-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBIs Wednesday afternoon.

Top under ’25s’

NFL.com came up with a list of the top NFL players at each position under the age of 25. Only one Steeler was on it: safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

As writer Nick Shook said, Fitzpatrick is “one of only two players with 10 or more interceptions and three or more returned for a touchdown since 2018, joining Marcus Peters in this rare company. Fitzpatrick allowed the lowest completion percentage (45.5%) in the NFL last season, per Next Gen Stats (min. 30 targets). His ballhawk rate (the percentage of targets where the nearest defender made a pass defensed or interception) of 33.3 percent ranked third in the league, painting a picture of a complete safety with even more room to grow.”

Fitzpatrick made the list last year, too. He doesn’t turn 25 until November.

In case you are wondering about T.J. Watt, he turned 26 in October.

All about Al

So far so good for Al Villanueva in Baltimore.

The former Steelers tackle signed with the Ravens during the offseason. And he is already drawing praise from head coach John Harbaugh.

This week, Harbaugh was asked about the additions of Villanueva and veteran guard Kevin Zeitler along his offensive line.

“Watching them play has been a pleasure,” Harbaugh said via Ravenswire.com. “They’re all ball, all the time – both of those guys. Whether it’s meeting room, weight room, conditioning [or] on the field work – they’re all ball, all the time. I love that about them. I think they’re going to be a formidable tandem on the right side. I’m really pleased with them so far.”

Villanueva was brought in to replace Orlando Brown Jr. who was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs. They hope Zeitler proves to be an upgrade over Ben Powers and Tyre Phillips at right guard.

Right time for Red Birds?

After taking three of five games from the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians — the top two teams in the AL Central — over the past week, the Pirates will now travel to St. Louis for four games against the division-rival Cardinals.

And the Cards are struggling. They just got swept by the Detroit Tigers in a two-game series. And they have lost five of six overall.

The Cardinals have fallen below .500 (36-38). That’s good for just 4th in the NL Central, 5.5 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. But still nine games in front of the last-place Pirates.

The Pirates will pitch Chad Kuhl, Wil Crowe, JT Brubaker and Tyler Anderson. St. Louis counters with Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Kwang Hyun Kim and Johan Oviedo.