That… that was not quite the way I’d have drawn up another Cubs win, but we will take them any way they come.
The Cubs defeated the Pirates 4-3 on an eighth-inning two-run rally in which they had only one hit. This, after hitting two home runs off Paul Skenes and going behind thanks in part to a rare Nico Hoerner error.
Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we?
Clay Holmes dispatched the Pirates scoreless in the first, then after the first two Cubs were easy outs in the bottom of the inning, Michael Busch
went oppo [VIDEO].
About Busch’s blast, from BCB’s JohnW53:
Michael Busch’s home run was the 28th by a Cub that has been the team’s first hit of a game. That is nearly one every five games. Busch had done it once before, on July 18, at home vs. the Twins. Pete Crow-Armstrong leads by far, with 10. Seiya Suzuki has four; Alex Bregman, three; Busch, Michael Conforto, Ian Happ and Dansby Swanson, two; and Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw and Tyrone Taylor, one.
Busch’s blast went a long way [VIDEO].
That’s where the score stayed until Pedro Ramirez led off the third with a home run [VIDEO].
Watching Skenes pitch, he is a different guy than he was a year ago. His velocity has dropped from “elite” (100 or over) to “above average,” hitting 96-97 most of the time. That can be hit, as the Cubs showed. He was getting swings and misses mostly on his slider. He’s still a very good pitcher, obviously, but will he ever recover the level he was at for the first two years of his career? That remains to be seen.
More on Skenes from John:
This was Paul Skenes’ 85th career start. It was just the eighth in which he has allowed multiple home runs, with five of them this year. He gave up three just once: at home vs. the Cubs, on May 1 of last year. The Cubs won the game, 8-3.
The Cubs have hit seven homers off him. No other team has hit more than three.
Michael Busch became the first batter to hit two homers off Skenes. Pedro Ramirez was the 36th to hit one.
Anyway, Holmes and the Cubs nursed that 2-0 lead into the sixth, when Brandon Lowe, who has killed Cubs pitching all year, led off with a single. Then came the aforementioned Nico error, which might have wound up a double play or at least a force out. Instead, the Pirates had two men on and nobody out. One out later, Ryan O’Hearn launched a homer and the Bucs led 3-2.
Holmes then loaded the bases on a walk, single following a fly to left and another walk. Craig Counsell called on Jacob Webb to face Oneil Cruz and — be honest now — you didn’t much like that matchup. I sure didn’t. But Webb got Cruz to ground to second to end the inning.
The Cubs couldn’t do anything in the sixth or seventh. Webb threw a scoreless seventh after a leadoff walk, and hopefully this outing will help him build confidence back. Ryan Rolison threw a 1-2-3 eighth and then the Cubs got to work after Skenes was lifted for Gregory Soto.
Ramirez led off with a double, but the next two Cubs were retired, including PCA on a called third strike. I think he was looking slider and Soto rammed a fastball right down the middle.
Then Soto lost the zone almost completely. He hit Alex Bregman and walked pinch-hitter Seiya Suzuki to load the bases.
Counsell sent Matt Shaw up to bat for Ian Happ and Shaw worked a walk to tie the game at 3 [VIDEO].
I don’t know if you can tell from that clip but the energy level from the 39,422 in attendance was tremendous at Wrigley Saturday afternoon. Loud and engaged on every pitch in that inning.
That continued when Nico came to bat and Soto hit him, forcing in the lead run [VIDEO].
The Cubs will take runs any way they can get them, of course, and now had a one-run lead to protect in the ninth.
Rolison was left in the game. The first batter was pinch-hitter Rafael Flores Jr., who hit a ground ball to Bregman that Alex couldn’t handle and it went for a hit. Rolison then retired the next two Pirates on fly balls, and Counsell called on Ryan Zeferjahn to face Bryan Reynolds.
You know, I’m not sure I’d have done that either, but I can see what Counsell is doing here — trying to figure out who’s going to close games and give some relievers tough situations to see how they handle them.
Zeferjahn struck out Reynolds to end the game — but not until after an ABS challenge [VIDEO].
Again, I’m not sure the tremendous crowd energy comes across well in the video clips. Everyone in the ballpark was really into every pitch, almost a playoff atmosphere. This isn’t the way I’d have drawn up this win, but wins are wins and the Cubs will certainly take it. More from John:
This was the Cubs’ 42nd come-from-behind win — more than half of all 83 total wins. Going into today, only two teams had more: the Diamondbacks, 44, and Dodgers, 42. The Brewers and Padres had 40.
So the Cubs have a chance to go a full game up on the Phillies for the top wild card if the Braves can defeat Philadelphia again this evening. Tyler Mahle will start for the Braves and the Phillies are going with a bullpen game, started by Tim Mayza. That game begins at 6:15 p.m. CT.
As for the Cubs, they’ll go for the sweep of the Pirates Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Bubba Chandler goes for Pittsburgh. Game time Sunday is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
