CHICAGO — All game Monday, the Chicago Cubs made silly mistakes against the Pirates. All game, the Pirates failed to take full advantage of it.
And then, poetically, it was a Pirates mistake that cost them the game.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth and the game tied at two apiece, right-hander Yerry De Los Santos got Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki to hit a weak grounder to short. Oneil Cruz scooped it and tossed it over to first, a little bit wide of first baseman Michael Chavis, but not horribly so. Chavis got his glove on it, but couldn’t squeeze it in, the ball nicking off the end of his mitt and rolling to the fence in front of the Pirates’ dugout. Suzuki stayed at first, but the mistake still came back to bite the Pirates.
Suzuki got to second on a fielder’s choice, bringing up Nico Hoerner, who ripped a double to the wall in right-center, scoring Suzuki. It turned out to be the game-sealing run in a 3-2 Pirates loss that felt all too avoidable.
Cruz being somewhat of a lightning rod these days, there will surely be some who deride the throw. Cruz was charged with the error, officially. In reality, it wasn’t as black and white, and Chavis has successfully pulled in more difficult throws many times this season.
Plus, as mentioned, the Cubs left the door open for the Pirates all game long. Their leadoff hitter, Rafael Ortega, singled to start the game, then took off toward second before Pirates right-hander JT Brubaker had thrown a pitch. Ortega was easily picked off. Two batters later, Cubs catcher Willson Contreras tried to tag up from first and take second on a standard flyout to right and was gunned down.
In the fourth, with runners on second and third and one out, Brubaker uncorked a wild pitch. Hoerner was on third at the time and was slow to read it and was thrown out by backstop Tyler Heineman with Brubaker covering home.
Point being, with the Cubs running into that many outs, the Pirates had ample opportunity to take hold of the game. That’s especially true considering they got out to an early lead in the second, when Cruz roped a two-out RBI single to right, scoring left fielder Ben Gamel to make it 1-0. The offense only scored once more, though, on a two-out RBI double in the fifth from second baseman Josh VanMeter, allowing the Cubs to hang in it despite their mistakes and eventually take the game for themselves.
On a positive note, Brubaker took advantage of the Cubs’ baserunning follies to put together another strong start. It wasn’t necessarily his prettiest. He still allowed eight hits. The Cubs mustered nine hard-hit balls against him, measured by a ball in play hit with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher. One of those came on a frozen rope line drive to left, which Gamel snared with an immaculate diving grab.
In hindsight, then, this start will show that Brubaker hung in there and gave the Pirates yet another quality outing. It’s the seventh time in his last 11 starts he’s lasted at least six innings. That’s worth something.
On this night, it just wasn’t worth a win. Brubaker used all of the Cubs’ mistakes to string together outs. The Pirates’ defense just blinked last and came out second best as a result.
