North Shore Nine

The Pirates dropped another frustrating one to the Cubs, falling 3–1 on Saturday afternoon. Offensively, it was more of the same—outside of a Tommy Pham solo homer in the 4th, the bats went completely silent against Shota Imanaga. The Pirates’ struggles against his splitter were glaring, posting a 62% whiff rate on that pitch alone.

On the bright side, Mike Burrows gave fans reason for optimism. He went five innings, allowing just one run while flashing a devastating changeup that continues to grade among the best in baseball. Despite command issues with the four-seam fastball, his pitch mix shows promise as a legitimate back-end starter moving forward.

The bullpen was a mixed bag—Kyle Nicolas escaped trouble despite shaky command, Evan Sisk failed in his matchup role again, and Yohan Ramirez couldn’t stop the bleeding. Bryan Reynolds’ struggles at the plate continued, adding more frustration to a series where emotions boiled over.

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