North Shore Nine

The Pittsburgh Pirates failed to hold on to win the series finale against the Cubs this afternoon. They jumped out to a 10-3 lead after 5 but blew the game late losing 14-10. Cruz, Reynolds, Telles, Joe and Triolo all had two or more hits as the Pirates had a 16 hit day. Skenes was mildly roughed up in the first two innings before settling in for three more. All was for not however as the bullpen blew it for the Pirates.
Paul Skenes had a rough start to the day, for him, giving up a first at bat double to Ian Happ. Even after two quick outs Cody Bellinger singled to make it 1-0 Cubs. In the bottom of the 1st Bryan Reynolds smashed a home run to tie the game at 1. While the Pirates got men then on 1st and 2nd with two outs a Billy McKinney strikeout ended the threat. Cubs added two in the top of the 2nd, part of which was an error charged to new CF Oneil Cruz, though it may have been charged to the wrong person.
Down 3-1 in the bottom of the 2nd Yasmani Grandal walked and Jared Triolo doubled. Back-to-back outs however put a potential Pirate rally in jeopardy even as the 2nd out scored a run. However, Reynolds singled, Cruz doubled, Rowdy Tellez singled, Connor Joe singled and Billy McKinney hit a ground rule double, making it 6-3 Pirates. This also chased Cub starter Kyle Hendricks from the game at 1.2 inning pitched with 70 pitches thrown. Skenes then came out and did what he does best, 1-2-3 innings with a pair of strikeouts, doing so in both the 3rd and the 4th innings.
In the bottom of the 4th the Pirates added more as Connor Joe lead off with a homer to left field, making it 7-3. This was followed by a McKinney HBP and a Grandal single putting men on the corners. Pirates managed to get one more run on a Alika Williams ground out to make it 8-3 after 4. Skenes got himself in and out of a jam in the top of the 5th managing to not give up a run. In the bottom of the frame Pirates decided to add a few more. Reynolds and Cruz singled, with Cruz stealing 2nd. After Tellez struck out Joe doubled in the pair making it 10-3 Pirates. While McKinney then struck out and Grandal did likewise it still put the Pirates into double digits just over halfway through the game.
Kyle Nicolas came in to pitch the 6th for the Pirates, likely to help save IP for Skenes for September. He promptly through a hitless inning, only giving up a walk to Isaac Paredes. Pirates went 1-2-3 in their part of the sixth bringing up the top of the 7th. Nicolas ran into a bit of in the 7th. Pete Crow-Arnstrong singled, Christian Bethancout homered, he then walked Happ, struck out Michael Busch and walked Seiya Suzuki. He was then pulled for Aroldis Chapman who got the last two outs to end the threat with the score being 10-5 Pirates.
In the bottom of the 7th, back-to-back walks to Reynolds and Cruz put men on 1st and 2nd. Tellez then singled into an out as the Cruz was hit by the ball running to second. Joe then struck out and McKinney then walked to load the bases. This brought up the recent defensive replacement Henry Davis who grounded out to SS to end the frame.
Chapman was back out for the top of the 8th and needed 12 pitches to get his first batter Nico Hoerner to strike out. A walk, single then double cut the lead to 10-7 Pirates and prompted a mound visit on Chapman. Another single pushed the score to 10-8 and chased Chapman from the game. Dennis Santana entered with the tying run at the plate in an attempt to help preserve the win. After two pitches, the Pirates were safely out of the top of the 8th via a double play. Pirates started the bottom of the 8th with a single by Triolo, but were unable to do anything further bringing on the 9th inning.
David Bednar came on for the 9th as Pirates fans all collectively held there breath. Suzuki led off with a single, followed by a Bellinger ground out, with Suzuki out at 2nd. Paredes then worked a 9 pitch at bat eventually singling. Hoerner then walked to load the bases with one out. Dansby Swanson then grounded out scoring one, bring the game to one out left and a one run Pirate lead. After a pair of balls the Pirates decided to intentionally walked Crow-Armstrong, bringing Bethancourt to the plate. He hit a ball off Kiner-Falefa’s glove scoring 2 and giving the Cubs the 11-10 lead. Derek Shelton finally pulled Bednar bringing in Jalen Beeks. Who promptly have up the two inherited runners pushing the score to 13-10 Cubs. Suzuki then up to the plate for the 2nd time in the 9th singled to score another for the Cubs as the embarrassment increased for the Pirates. Beeks finally got Bellinger to fly out to end the bleeding and finish pushing the dagger into the chest of Pirates fans for the season. Pirates couldn’t muster anything in the bottom of the 9th to finish off an embarrassing series.
The Pirates are back in action Friday in Cleveland versus the Guardians. Gametime is 7:10 PM EST, Bailey Falter will go for the Pirates with Ben Lively going for Cleveland.