CHICAGO — JT Brubaker stood hunched over near third base, screaming out of desperation, trying his best to get the attention of his teammates. It was no use. Ian Happ's pop fly dropped, Willson Contreras reached second base without a play, and the Pirates' caravan of catastrophe had already left for an inning-long journey that turned Tuesday's game into a circus.
The Pirates struggled with so many things on a chilly night at Wrigley Field that their 7-0 loss to the Cubs once again felt like nothing more than a formality; there was absolutely no way, given their recent offensive struggles, they were capable of overcoming this.
Michael Chavis losing that ball in the lights hurt, but on this night, misery had company. Lots of it. Rodolfo Castro actually opened the inning with a throwing error, so when the third batter of the inning — right fielder Seiya Suzuki — doubled, it really felt like a punch to the gut for the Pirates.
