The Cubs didn’t generate much offense Friday night in Pittsburgh, just six hits and three walks. They struck out 11 times and left seven runners on base.
Thanks to some great defensive work, solid pitching, a Pete Crow-Armstrong homer and a two-run 10th inning, the Cubs opened their road trip with a 3-2 win over the Pirates in 10 innings at PNC Park Friday night.
Neither team scored through four innings as starters Matthew Boyd and Jared Jones dominated. The Cubs had some help from the defense in getting out of the third inning. Nico Hoerner made a spectacular diving stop of a ground ball by Nick Gonzales with two on and two out and Nico and Alex Bregman pulled off this play [VIDEO].
That’s just heads-up defense all the way around. It would not be the last great defensive play by the Cubs on the evening.
The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the fifth without hitting the ball out of the infield. Boyd walked the first two Pirates he faced in that inning and Jared Triolo laid down a perfect bunt and beat it out for a hit, so the bases are loaded with nobody out. An infield single by Henry Davis scored a run and left the bases loaded. But Boyd bore down and got two routine fly balls and then struck out Bryan Reynolds to end the inning.
That’s a pretty good result, only one run scoring with the bases loaded and nobody out. The run expectancy matrix says teams should score at least two, maybe three runs in that situation.
The Cubs got that run back in a hurry. With one out in the sixth, Pete Crow-Armstrong went deep, his 22nd home run [VIDEO].
A note on PCA’s homer from BCB’s JohnW53:
This is the sixth consecutive game in which the Cubs have hit at least one home run, their longest such streak since seven in a row, June 15-24, which matched their season high, set May 2-8. They had two previous streaks of six games, April 12-18 and 20-25.
The score was still 1-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh, with Boyd still in the game. A pair of one-out singles put Pirates runners on first and third.
Ian Happ played that perfectly. He set up so his momentum was taking him toward the plate as he made the catch, and he made a perfect throw to Carson Kelly for the tag and an inning-ending double play. For Happ, it was his fourth assist of the year, which leads the league, and his 39th over the last five seasons. He’s going to win another Gold Glove this year.
Boyd had an outstanding outing, seven innings, one run, four strikeouts. His ERA dropped to 3.81. More from John:
Matthew Boyd’s quality start was his fourth of the season, tying Edward Cabrera, Colin Rea and Jameson Taillon for second most among Cubs pitchers, behind Shōta Imanaga’s eight.
Boyd has made 11 starts; Cabrera, 14; Rea, 17; Taillon, 14; and Imanaga, 20.
No one came close to scoring in the eighth or ninth, so on the game went to extras.
In the top of the 10th, Happ was the placed runner. Pedro Ramirez beat out an infield grounder to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Michael Conforto batted for Kelly and hit a soft line drive to second.
Dansby Swanson was the next hitter. He singled, and… well, watch [VIDEO].
You can see that Happ beat the throw, but his foot might have come off the plate as he was crossing it. The call on the field was “safe.” At one point you can see Happ’s back leg possibly touch the plate before Davis tags him. It’s really hard to tell, and so the play was ruled “call stands” and the Cubs had a 2-1 lead, with runners still on first and second with two out.
Then PCA’s bat scared the Pirates into giving him an intentional pass after running a 2-0 count on him, loading the bases
Pirates pitcher Yohan Ramirez was a bit wild in this inning and Seiya Suzuki took four pitches outside the zone for a walk, forcing in another run [VIDEO].
The bases are still loaded, but Michael Busch struck out to end the inning. Still, the Cubs had a two-run lead and as the visiting team, that’s really the least you want in the top of an extra inning.
Gavin Hollowell, who entered the game with one career save (in 2023 with the Rockies) was given the save opportunity. Davis was the placed runner and was advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt — the Cubs will take that, there’s one out, on one pitch. Two pitches later Gonzales grounded to Swanson, and of course the Cubs will trade a run for an out in that situation.
Now it’s a 3-2 game with two out and nobody on. And Hollowell rose to the occasion [VIDEO].
In so doing Hollowell became the 11th Cub to record a save this year. The other 10, from John, along with the number of saves each has recorded:
5: Jacob Webb
3: Daniel Palencia and Trent Thornton
2: Caleb Thielbar and Jordan Wicks
1: Ben Brown, Corbin Martin, Hoby Miller, Colin Rea, Ryan Rolison
And if you think that’s weird, check this out (Bluesky link):
The Cubs’ total of 21 saves ranks 23rd in MLB, but a win is a win, and the Cubs will certainly take this one. The win improved the Cubs’ record in one-run games to 16-10, and their extra-inning record is now 8-5.
And they gained a game on the Brewers in the NL Central. Thanks, Rockies, for defeating the Brewers Friday afternoon. The Cubs edge to within six games of the division lead. The Cubs also gained a game on the Phillies for the first wild-card spot and now lead Philadelphia by 2.5 games for that spot.
The Cubs will go for the series win Saturday evening at PNC Park. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Paul Skenes will go for the Pirates. Game time is again 5:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
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