Steele roughed up as Pirates even up series against Cubs |
CHICAGO - Although the playoffs don't start for another two weeks, the playoffs are officially underway for the Chicago Cubs (79-73), as every game from here on out needs to be treated like a playoff game. Coming off a 14-1 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates (71-81) on Monday and with their Ace Justin Steele taking the ball, you had to like the Cubs chances to pick up another win.
Instead, Steele was roughed up for the second straight time, which leads to the question is he starting to fatigue out down the stretch. After dominating the Pirates through three, Steele lost it in the sixth as he was charged with six earned runs in that inning and put his team in an early 8-1 hole. However, like most summer nights at Wrigley Field, no lead is safe, and Mitch Keller found that out first hand as a five-run fifth helped pull the Cubs within 8-6 before the Pirates added on late for the 13-7 win. Like Steele, Keller also got off to a strong start, allowing just a Seiya Suzuki RBI single in the second to put the Cubs in front early. He would then work into and out of trouble in the third as the Pirates Ace was managing to hold his own against one of the Cy Young favorites in the National League. Despite having to work out of a huge jam in the first, Steele settled in nicely after that and was doing what he has done all season. That was until the fourth inning when the wheels not only fell off, but he completely lost it on the mound. Singles from Ke'Bryan Hayes and Connor Joe started things off, but that was only the beginning, as Steele allowed the first six Pirates hitters to reach base in the fourth. Those singles were followed by a Jack Suwinski single to tie things up while the Jared Triolo single loaded the bases and kept the pressure on. One pitch away from potentially working out of this jam, Henry Davis and Liover Peguero kept the line moving as both of them picked up a pair of RBI singles to put the Pirates in front 4-1. That would be all for Steele, who was replaced by Jose Cuas after a rough go of things for a second consecutive start. Looking to limit the damage, Cuas managed to get the first hitter out that he faced, but with Joshua Palacios unloading for a three-run shot, the Pirates capped off a seven-run fourth inning with the lead and had the Cubs looking for answers down 7-1. Pittsburgh continued to keep the pressure on as Triolo unloaded off of Hayden Wesneski in the fifth to make things 8-1, but you had to know the Cubs offense had a little life left in the tank. Entering the game with 10 wins in 11 tries against Pittsburgh this season, it was only a matter of time until the Cubs had their confidence back, and after Christopher Morel launched a homer that still hasn't landed, the Cubs were back on the board and had the momentum swinging in their direction. That homer was followed by singles from Yan Gomes and Mike Tauchman as the Cubs had runners on the corners with one out. Looking to keep the line moving, Nico Hoerner took one for the team to load the bases up against the Pirate killer Ian Happ. Already with an on-base streak of 58 straight games against the Pirates, Happ picked the perfect time to make it 59 and did so in style as he crushed a Keller heater over the right-center field wall for the Grand Slam, and just like that, it was an 8-6 game. One pitch later saw Cody Bellinger narrowly miss going back to back with a double, but he would be stranded there as the Cubs were suddenly back in the game 8-6. With a chance to make things interesting late, David Ross had to go back to his winning combination in the bullpen and called on Mark Leiter Jr to pitch the sixth. Normally a great decision, Leiter Jr walked the leadoff man on a boarder line pitch before the Palacios single put runners on the corners with no outs. An RBI forceout by Bryan Reynolds made things 9-6, but it was the two out two-run blast from Joe that was the dagger as he pumbled a sinker from Leiter and sent it halfway up the bleachers in left to put the Pirates back in front 11-6. Down but not out, the Cubs continued to battle back as Miles Mastrobuoni ripped one off the wall for the two-out double and then came around to score on a Patrick Wisdom single to make this an 11-7 game in the sixth. A leadoff double by Happ to begin the seventh set the Cubs offense up once again, but this time it was Morel grounding out to end the threat with no additional damage coming. Still holding an 11-7 lead in the ninth, the Pirates tacked on a pair of runs off of Daniel Palencia as they wanted to make sure the Cubs had no intentions of coming back. Three straight base runners loaded the bases with no outs ahead of the Triolo infield single to make things 12-7. Pittsburgh closed out the scoring on the Peguero sacrifice fly before the Cubs went down in order in the ninth to even up the series 13-7. Offense was the name of the game in this one as the two teams combined for 20 runs on 27 hits. Mastrobuoni led the way with three hits, but it was the two-hit, four-RBI night from Happ that set the tone for the offense. Bellinger added a pair of doubles for the Cubs as the Cubs need him to heat back up. The Cubs will go for the Series win on their final night game of the season at Wrigley Field when they send Kyle Hendricks to the mound against Johan Oviedo.
