PHILADELPHIA -- More than five hours before clobbering a key two-run homer in Friday's win over the Rockies, Andrew McCutchen was on the field at Citizens Bank Park taking swings against super slow breaking balls from a pitching machine.

Though McCutchen has struggled against breaking balls this season -- he's 4-for-29 (.138) with 14 strikeouts -- that wasn't the only reason for the early batting practice session. McCutchen was simply trying to recalibrate his overall approach at the plate.

"I made some small adjustments, slowed down a bit," McCutchen said. "I feel like I've been muscling up quite a bit to the ball as opposed to just letting the ball come to me. That's why I hit some really slow curveballs on the field. The only way you can hit those good is if you slow down -- and that's what I did in the game."

McCutchen took the first 10 pitches he saw on Friday night before depositing the 11th into the left-center-field seats for a two-run home run.

"It's really gratifying to see a guy go out pregame, work on something specific, and immediately apply it," Philadelphia manager Gabe Kapler said. "Andrew McCutchen was incredibly comfortable at the plate [Friday]. Very relaxed. Very easy. In control of all of his plate appearances."

McCutchen started the night by working a five-pitch walk against Rockies starter Jon Gray. The veteran outfielder then took the first five pitches in his second at-bat before clobbering a 97 mph fastball on a 3-2 pitch. He then worked an eight-pitch walk in his third trip to the plate, giving him his 33rd free pass of the season. That moved him into a tie atop the National League leaderboard with teammate Bryce Harper.

Overall, Harper saw 24 pitches in his four plate appearances on Friday. That's nothing new for McCutchen, who is seeing an average of 4.5 pitches per plate appearance this season, second in the Majors behind only another teammate, Rhys Hoskins, who is averaging 4.6.

The key for McCutchen working deep counts has been his ability to lay off pitches out of the zone. He has a 14.2 percent chase rate this season, according to Statcast, second-lowest among qualified hitters in the Majors. That's down from 15.9 percent last season, which was already a significant improvement from 20.6 percent in 2017 and 23.8 percent in '16.

"These guys are throwing harder, but I don't know if a lot of guys are throwing smarter," McCutchen said. "So for myself, I have to make that adjustment. If I don't, I'm gonna be striking out a lot. That's my approach, stay within myself, especially with velocity and how it's gone up over the years. You really just gotta hone in on your own zone.

"If you go outside the zone, it's really hard to succeed like that. The swing's gonna be there, the hits are gonna come, I just have to be stubborn in my approach."