Andrew McCutchen has been playing his best baseball of the season, and he was awarded for it Thursday, when the Pirates center fielder was named as the National League Player of the Month for August.
McCutchen had a slash line of .348/.470/.609 for an OPS of 1.079 in August -- all monthly bests on the season -- with five homers and 19 RBIs in 27 games to win the award.
McCutchen's Pirates sit comfortably atop the NL Card race with a 4 1/2-game lead for the first Wild Card spot entering Thursday night's game.