Rivero dominant again in the eighth inning, but Nicasio bombs in ninth to Cubs, 9-5

Clint Hurdle laid out the plan for his bullpen nearly five hours before a pitch was thrown Friday night at PNC Park.

With the Cubs having two left-handed hitters atop their order, Hurdle wanted to use Felipe Rivero in the eighth inning if the Pirates led. The other half of the closing tandem, Juan Nicasio, would then take over the ninth.

That first part of the plan went as scripted, but the second was a disaster.

Nicasio blew the one-run lead in the ninth — the second save opportunity of his career and his first since May 15, 2015 — and allowed four runs in a 9-5 loss to the second-place Cubs.

It was the Pirates' third blown save in their last 10 games and they squandered an opportunity to remain five games back of the first-game Brewers, but Hurdle had no regrets about his plan.



"It set up the way we talked about it setting up and we didn’t finish it off," he explained.

Hurdle has insisted over the past week that he will "use the bullpen to win games," instead of sticking with one closer.

After Josh Bell's two-run triple sparked a three-run sixth for a 4-3 lead, Hurdle turned to Daniel Hudson in the seventh. Hudson issued a leadoff walk to the Cubs' No. 6 hitter. He got two consecutive outs, but Rivero started to warm up with the top of the order approaching.

The top of the Cubs' order includes a pair of left-handers and a switch-hitter, but it did not get that far. Hudson got a strikeout to end the threat.

Rivero then came on to pitch the eighth inning, mixing a 100-mph fastball with an 82-mph slider to fool Anthony Rizzo for the first out:



He allowed a double to Ian Happ down the left-field line, but needed just four pitches to get the second out. That is when Hurdle's plan hit its first snag.

Rivero struck out Addison Russell to end the top of the eighth, but he needed 10 pitches to do so. With Rivero at 20 pitches,  Hurdle could not use him against Jason Heyward in the ninth.

"That tipped it for us right there," Hurdle said. "That’s (20) pitches. High intensity, right through the meat of their order."

The problem was Heyward has a history of success against Nicasio, batting .368 against him in his career. The left-hander led off the ninth with this double to right-center:



The trouble continued. Willson Contreras followed with the game-tying double, pulling a hanging slider down the left-field line.

Nicasio, who had a 0.73 ERA in his previous 26 appearances, was pulled after allowing two more hits and not getting one out. Hurdle replaced him with the pitcher whom he had no intention of using in the ninth inning: Tony Watson.

Watson, who now has a 4.50 ERA and was demoted after blowing his fifth save last Wednesday, allowed four more hits before the inning was over. The total damage: Six runs on six hits, as the two faced 10 batters.

"No excuses," Nicasio said. "I threw my pitches where I wanted them and they did their part."