Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Jason Grilli and Jeff Locke named to All-Star team

Major League Baseball announced today that Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Jason Grilli and Jeff Locke have been named to the National League All-Star team for this year's All-Star Game in New York. It's the first time since 1981 the Pirates will send four representatives to the All-Star Game. This is also the third straight year Pittsburgh will have multiple representatives at the Midsummer Classic. The last time the team had multiple representatives in at least three straight years was from 1990-93.

This is the third time in McCutchen's career he has been named to the All-Star team (also 2011 and 2012). He is the first Pirates position player to be named to at least three consecutive All-Star teams since Bobby Bonilla from 1988-91. Since the beginning of last season McCutchen leads all National League players in hits (288), ranks fifth in batting average (.317), sixth in on-base percentage (.389) and seventh in slugging percentage (.523). The 26-year-old McCutchen was selected to this year's contest by the players.

Alvarez enters today ranked third in the league in home runs (21), tied for sixth in RBI (56) and 10th in slugging percentage (.507). He is also one of just seven different players in Pirates history to hit at least 21 home runs prior to the All-Star break. Since the beginning of last season, the 26-year-old Alvarez is tied for second among all National League players with 51 home runs. Alvarez was also named to this year's team by player vote.

Grilli has a league-leading 28 saves entering today's action. His 28 saves are the most in Pirates history before the break (the previous record was 26 by Joel Hanrahan in 2011). He also leads all relievers in the Majors with 60 strikeouts, which are the second-most in Pirates history among relievers prior to the All-Star break since Rich "Goose" Gossage had 95 in 1977. The 36-year-old Grilli's 28 saves are also the most by the All-Star break by a National Leaguer since Washington's Chad Cordero had 31 in 2005. Grilli was also selected by the players to this year's team.

Locke is 8-1 this season and enters today ranked second among all National League pitchers with a 2.12 ERA. He has won each of his last eight decisions, which is the longest by a Pirates southpaw since John Candelaria also won eight straight in 1983. The 25-year-old Locke's eight game winning streak is also tied for the second longest among all National League pitchers this season. He is the first Pirates left-handed starting pitcher to be named to the All-Star team since Zach Duke in 2009. National League All-Star team manager Bruce Bochy selected Locke to the team.