Cubs bats come to life in series win over Pirates at PNC Park
Coming off of a lackluster performance at Citi Field against the Mets, the Cubs would head into the steel city under .500 needing a good series to get some momentum before the all-star break.
Aside from a lackluster game on Saturday, the Cubs bats delivered in a big way leading to their first road series win since the last week of APRIL against these same Pirates.
Game 1 (Friday June 16th): Cubs 9, Pirates 5
Anthony Rizzo’s third game in the leadoff role almost began identical to his first two, with a dinger to start the game. The big lefty sent a towering shot down the right field line that landed in the Alleghany River as the first base ump emphatically waved fair leading to a happy trot around the bases for Anthony. However, after review, the call was controversially reversed and sent both Rizzo and Joe Maddon into a furious rage. Maddon was so incensed he got booted from the game for the first time all year, and it only took him one batter to do so.
Fortunately, the Cubs were able to respond after the disappointing episode. The Cubs went on to touch up Trevor Williams for three runs in the first frame. The first came courtesy of Williams himself, as a wild pitch sent rookie Ian Happ scurrying home. Later in the inning, catcher Wilson Contreras launched a double into the right-center gap scoring two more. It was great to see Contreras go opposite field with men in scoring position as Maddon has been begging the team to do now for some time.
Unfortunately, Cubs starter Eddie Butler was unable to hold the early lead. The righty allowed 4 ER in 5.2 innings pitched including a homer and a triple to already a Cub-killer, Josh Bell. The Pirates took this lead to the 9th where the Cubs were desperate to find a way to win this game they once had a stronghold on.
For the betterment of the fan base and the club, the team responded with one of their best innings of the year. The Cubs scored six times in the inning to regain a 9–4 advantage, but the best part was they did so without hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Contreras, Rizzo, Jon Jay, and Addison Russell all came up with RBI base knocks in the inning.
In the bottom half of the 9th, Wade Davis was shakier than normal, but only gave up one run as the Cubs scored a huge W to open the intra-division series.
Game 2 (Saturday June 17th): Pirates 4, Cubs 3
In the second game of the weekend tilt, Jake Arrieta was on the mound opposite Ivan Nova. The Saturday Night game proved to be the closest of the three. Gregory Polanco got the scoring started early with a monster shot off of Arrieta in the first driving in Adam Frazier in the process to give the Bucs an early 2–0 advantage.
Arrieta only went 4.2 innings, striking out 7 while walking 2, but it continued to be his command issues that plagued him in this start. It’s not just his command in missing the late, but his control in leaving pitches over the heart of it that remain the bigger problem. Polanco’s home run was a prime example of this, and given Arrieta’s drop in velocity, he can’t get away with those mistakes anymore.
On the bright side, the man continues to rake with the best of the pitchers in the league. Arrieta took it upon himself to knot things up by hitting a two run bomb in the 5th off of Nova to tie it at 2.
In the bottom half of the 5th, the Pirates regained the lead thanks in part to Arrieta’s wildness. Adam Frazier drove in Jordy Mercer after an Arrieta wild pitch had moved Frazier into scoring position. A telling stat from this one was the Pirates besting the Cubs with RISP. The Bucs were 2–7 on the night while the Cubs went hitless in four attempts.
The Pirates would tack on to their lead in the 6th after Andrew McCutchen took Justin Grim deep. The Cubs would pull one back in the 7th after an Addison Russell home run, but failed to drive in Jason Heyward from 2nd with one out in the inning with Nova giving an exaggerated fist pup after striking out Jon Jay to end the threat.
The Cubs went on to squander another man on second with less than two outs in the 9th after Clint Hurdle went to his new closer, Felipe Rivero, for the 5 out save. Rivero mowed down the Cubs in the 8th and 9th to seal the win for the Pirates and even the series.
Game 3 (Sunday June 18th): Cubs 7, Pirates 1
The rubber match in the three game set felt like a big one for this Cub team and the club’s eldest rotation member stepped up with his best game of the year.
John Lackey tossed a gem on Sunday afternoon going 6 innings while giving up only two hits. Unfortunately, one of those was a rocket of shot from Jordy Mercer that went out over the short porch in left, but besides that, Lackey was nearly flawless.
Lackey’s stellar performance allowed the offense time to bury the opposition, sounds a lot like 2016 Cub’s I know. The scoring got started in the first when newly christened Anthony Rizzo was only able to muster a mere double in his first AB. From there, Wilson Contreras sent him home with a shot over Andrew McCutchen’s head in center.
Contreras would answer the bell again in the 3rd when he came up with the bases loaded and no one out. The Venezuela native hit another shot down the third base line to drive in two more, extending the lead once again.
Fourth outfielder Jon Jay also had himself a day. The newly signed outfielder has had himself a nice year to this point. After a 3–4 performance that included an RBI single in the 4th, Jay’s average is up to .319 on the year, by far the highest on the team.
From there the long ball sealed the deal. Scrappy leadoff man Anthony Rizzo sent one deep in the 6th to drive in a pair, while Ian Happ, the Pittsburgh native, put the finishing touches on a series win with his first homer from the right side on the year to give the Cubs a 7–1 lead.
The bullpen locked down the Pirates after Lackey’s departure allowing the Cubs to claim the series win without much stress.
Up next, the Cubs head home to take on the struggling Padres as the home team will look to avenge an ugly sweep from when the teams met out West. Meanwhile, the Pirates will head to Milwaukee to take on the first-place Brewers in a pivotal series for their hopes going forward.
Jason Schwartz is the Editor-in-Chief of BulletinBoard, a Chicago Bulls blog. Only his love for the Cubs would dare him to write elsewhere. You can find him on Twitter here.
