Cubs over .500 after win over Pirates |
PITTSBURGH - It has been a long time since the Chicago Cubs (67-66) were above .500, May 28 to be exact, but they finally accomplished that feat on Tuesday night at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. That milestone came against the Pittsburgh Pirates (62-70), and in the process, it clinched another series for the Cubs, which is all you can ask for this late in the season.
Considering who is in line to start for the Pirates on Wednesday, you could make the case that this was a must-win game for the Cubs if they wanted to win this series. Who better to be on the mound than your Ace Justin Steele, who also reached the .500 mark after a rough start to his season. Pittsburgh is the one team that Steele has struggled against this season, and after going just five innings and allowing two runs, he showed improvement, but the struggles were still there. He was backed by an offense that took a little bit to get rolling against the hard-throwing Jared Jones, but once they got to him, they got to him in a hurry as they scored nine times across the fourth and fifth innings to break the game open before picking up the 9-5 win. This was Jones first start since coming off the IL and after allowing five runs in four innings, he was far from his best as he hasn't pitched that well against the Cubs this season. The Pirates did their best to back Jones with some early offense as a pair of singles from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan Reynolds opened the bottom of the first and immediately had the Pirates threatening. Two batters later saw Oneil Cruz put the Pirates on top with a sacrifice fly while the Bryan De La Cruz double gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead after one. Take that inning away, and the Pirates weren't able to do much against the Cubs left-hander as Steele settled in to toss four straight scoreless innings to end his outing and went on to retire six of the last seven guys he faced with a Cruz single being his only blemish across those final four innings. Despite his effort on the mound, the Cubs weren't doing much of anything against Jones in the early going, as he allowed just one hit through the first three innings. Then came the fourth, when the Cubs not only started to make some solid contact against him but also jumped him in a big way, pushing across five runs in the fourth to take the lead. It all started with a leadoff Mike Tauchman walk on what was a terrific at bat only to have Seiya Suzuki follow with a two-run blast to make this a 2-2 game. Seiya likes his tacos oppo. 🌮 pic.twitter.com/pSKN2SGDO6 With Isaac Paredes working a one-out walk two batters later, it was Nico Hoerner cashing in with an RBI double as he put the Cubs in front for good 3-2. Dansby Swanson capped off the massive fourth inning with his second homer in as many games as he went opposite field for the two-run blast and extended the Cubs lead to 5-2. Dansby just gave his mom the best birthday present yet. 💙 pic.twitter.com/F82nlfHDdi Jones was finished after that inning in favor of Jalen Beeks, but it wasn't a soft landing for him as the Cubs offense was just getting started. Already with one massive inning under their belt, the Cubs immediately kept the pressure on Beeks as a one-out single from Suzuki was followed by an error, and the Cubs had two runners on again. Two batters later saw Hoerner get hit by a pitch to load the bases, with Swanson continuing his great series with a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 6-2. That was the first of four runs in the Cubs half of the fifth as Ben Heller went on to walk Pete Crow-Armstrong to push the lead to 7-2 with Miguel Amaya capping off the scoring with a two-run single as the Cubs opened up a 9-2 lead. Cubs make it 9-2. 😤 pic.twitter.com/0onR8BrvC3 Those would be the final runs of the day for the Cubs, but given how well their bullpen has been pitching, you had to like their chances of holding off the Pirates. With Steele out of the game after five innings, it was up to the pen to finish things off as Nate Pearson took over in the sixth. De La Cruz immediately connected for a solo shot to make this a 9-3 game, but Pearson bounced back nicely to retire the next six hitters, three coming on punchouts. He gave way to Keegan Thompson in the eighth who was making his first appearance since being called up earlier in the day. Going back on his last 15 appearances, Thompson has been lights out as he has pitched to a 1.83 ERA with AAA, including three walks and 20 punchouts. His run of success continued as he overcame a leadoff Cruz single followed by a walk to strike out the next three men he faced as the Cubs entered the ninth leading 9-3. After their offense failed to add on after the fifth, it was time for another newly added pitcher to take over, as Daniel Palencia was recalled to replace Jack Neely on the roster. Averaging close to 102 MPH with Iowa this season, the Cubs know Palencia has the stuff to be a good reliever if he can find it at the MLB level. He has done that at times, but this wasn't one of those times, as Palencia retired the first two hitters he faced before allowing a two-out walk to keep the inning alive. That was followed by the Nick Gonzalez RBI double and another Cruz single as the Pirates pulled within 9-5 before falling by that score. The Cubs didn't have as much luck at the plate offensively in this one as they came away with just seven hits. Still, with 27 runs scored in two games and averaging close to 10 runs per game in their last 12, this offense has started to take off at the right time. They will now go for the sweep on Wednesday as the Professor Kyle Hendricks will face off against the rookie sensation Skenes. 🎶Yo ho, yo ho, a Cubbies life for me.🎶 Miguel Amaya is scorching hot 🔥 pic.twitter.com/aotqQTki9J “I was scared to death honestly … they started checking me before every single inning from that point and everything was fine.” “They thought he had rosin on his non-pitching hand … he took it off, no big deal.”
Suzuki: 2 for 4, HR, BB, 2 RBI, 2 R
Swanson: 1 for 2, HR, 2 BB, 3 RBI, 2 R
Amaya: 2 for 4, 2 RBI pic.twitter.com/OUh1XbN7aQ
Justin Steele discusses the rosin on his non-throwing arm. pic.twitter.com/4heDMkE46Z
Craig Counsell on the umpire’s inspection of Justin Steele. pic.twitter.com/3PjzZvQhKx
