Steele sharp in extra-inning win over Pirates |
PITTSBURGH - There is never anything easy about the game of baseball, and the Chicago Cubs (67-60) are finding that out right now. In a 12-game stretch where many felt the Cubs should take care of business and potentially be in first place when all is said and done, it has been challenging for the Cubs, and Thursday night was another instance of that.
Opening a four-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates (57-71) at PNC Park, the Cubs turned to Justin Steele, who was looking to keep building his Cy Young case. Although Steele was solid once again, he wasn't at his best as he gave the Cubs six innings of three-run ball with six strikeouts. “I put a ton of work in the offseason to get to this point,” Steele said after his 17th quality start. “I want to be the guy that we can rely on, that goes out there and gives us good start after good start. I want to be consistent. That's what makes a really good starting pitcher.” “He locked it down,” Ross said about Steele. “Nice, nice job. That's what we're expecting him to do. He's at that level now. He's our horse. We're going to lean on him.” That was good enough to warrant a no-decision as nine innings were not enough in this one as the Cubs managed to push across a pair of runs in the 10th before holding off a late Pirates rally in their 5-4 extra-inning win. While Steele was his typical self, the Cubs went with an opener style of game, with former Cubs lefty Rob Zastrynzny getting the start. Zastrynzny gave the Pirates one inning, allowing one run before turning things over to Austin Jackson and the Pirates pen. A leadoff double from Nico Hoerner got things started as the Cubs offense was instantly in business. Three batters later, Hoerner was still standing on base with two outs, with Cody Bellinger driving him in with an RBI single to make things 1-0. The second inning was more of the same for the Cubs, with Seiya Suzuki doubling to lead things off before advancing to third on the Yan Gomes single. Jeimer Candelario would extend the lead to 2-0 with a sacrifice fly, but the Cubs offense wasn't quite done. Nick Madrigal added an additional single later in the inning, as did Hoerner, as he drove in another run on his single to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. That would be it for their offense for quite some time, as Jackson and the Pirates pen was extremely impressive. Immediately after falling behind by three, the Pirates offense started to get to Steele as an Endy Rodriguez walk opened up the bottom of the second. Rodriguez would advance to second on an infield bunt single, but after a pair of Steele punchouts, the Pirates were on the verge of coming away empty. That was until Ji-Hwan Bae came through with a clutch RBI single to pull the Pirates within 3-1. One inning later, it was the Pirates offense again coming through as the Connor Joe single put another baserunner on. A few pitches later, I saw Joshua Palacios unload off Steele as he launched one into the Allegany River to tie things up 3-3. Those would be the only runs Steele would allow as he would settle in after that and gutted it out for six strong innings. With Steele out of the game in the seventh, it was time for David Ross to go to his pen, as Julian Merryweather needed just nine pitches to get through the seventh and kept the game tied. The same can be said for Colin Holderman and Michael Fulmer in the eighth, as things remained tied heading into the ninth. In the ninth inning, things got really interesting for both sides as Nick Madrigal reached base with a two-out double in the top of the inning before Mike Tauchman was thrown out on a bang-bang play at first. Hoping to get three more outs and send the game to extras, the pressure was on Daniel Palencia, who was looking to get back on track after some rough outings in recent weeks. A leadoff walk to Jack Suwinski didn't help his cause, nor did another one to Bae later in the inning. However, Palencia recovered and got through the inning without any damage as this game was heading to extras tied 3-3. Looking to come through first, the Cubs would have to get something done off the Pirates all-star David Bednar. Dansby Swanson started what could be considered the game-winning rally as his one-out walk put two runners on. A costly wild pitch from Thomas Hatch moved Swanson to second as the Cubs now had a pair of runners in scoring position. That proved costly for Bednar, with Ian Happ lacing an RBI single to right to put the Cubs back in front 5-3. Needing just three outs to secure the save, Adbert Alzolay did allow a Joe sacrifice fly to make things 5-4, but that would be it as he secured his 20th save and gave the Cubs a huge win to keep them within three games of the Brewers for first place. Hoerner was back in the leadoff role and paced the Cubs offense with two hits and an RBI. Gomes and Madrigal also picked up a pair of hits for the Cubs as they continue to be put in challenging games only to come out on top more often than not.
