CHICAGO — Josh Harrison struck a high, inside two-seam fastball with the barrel of his bat in the ninth inning and sprinted out of the batter's box while keeping an eye on the ball tailing towards the left-field line at Wrigley Field.
Harrison expected the worst. "Baseball ... put the ball in play, you never know what's going to happen," he'd say afterwards. With a 7 mph wind blowing out to right field, the ball hung in the air long enough for Ian Happ to dive to his right, and for the ball to fall into his gloved left hand to seal the Cubs' 3-1 victory over the Pirates in front of an announced crowd of 40,097 Friday afternoon.
The play was emblematic of the Pirates' struggles over the past six weeks. Six scoreless innings from their pitching staff — including 5 1/3 from Chad Kuhl — kept them in striking distance; however, they couldn't capitalize on offense and are now below .500, 31-32, for the first time this season.
"There are little mistakes that get made along the way, but yeah, I always use the word community," Clint Hurdle said. "You have to pitch it, you have to catch it, you have to hit, you have to run the bases well. Anytime you don’t do one of those it can show up. It can bite you, especially when you’re playing against talented teams."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOThe string of losses — now 15 in 20 games — began May 18, when the Pirates were in sole possession of first place in the Central Division. They have since dropped to fourth, 6 1/2 games back of the first-place Cubs and Brewers, and have not won back-to-back games in that span.
There's not one facet of their game immune to blame, either. They can't seem to get quality pitching and hitting in the same game. Over their past 20 games, they're only 4-3 when scoring five or more runs. They've also been held to two or fewer runs nine times during that span.
The Pirates' rotation owns the 18th-best ERA in the majors, and the bullpen, despite its sub-2 ERA for a five-week span, ranks 24th. Meanwhile, the offense still ranks fourth in the National League in runs, batting average and on-base percentage.
Pitching wasn't to blame this time. Although Kuhl's batting-practice fastballs resulted in two first-inning runs and his one-out walk to the pitcher, Mike Montgomery, led to a run in the second, the Pirates' starter allowed only three hits the rest of his outing.
Edgar Santana, entering with two on in the sixth, struck out Happ and Tommy La Stella to end the threat. He and Dovydas Neverauskas, who was recalled from Triple-A hours earlier, combined for 2 2/3 scoreless innings — the first scoreless outing for the bullpen in one week.
It was the offense and to a lesser extent, the defense, that were at the root of this loss. The Pirates had nine hits, including two each from Harrison, Austin Meadows and Colin Moran, but they went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position. They failed to score following leadoff hits in the second, third, seventh and ninth innings.
It's a continuation of a six-week long problem. The Pirates are batting .209 with runners in scoring position over their past 20 games. Josh Bell, expected to be the top run producer, is hitting .162 during that span and was out of the lineup Friday.
"Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way," Corey Dickerson, who singled in the second to extend his hitting streak to eight games, said. "You try to put everything together, some things click and some things don’t. ... To get a rhythm going, to have some good win streaks like we did earlier, you need to have both kinda clicking — at least two of the three with bullpen, starters and hitters. We need to be able to pick each other up and be more consistent."
Jordy Mercer led off the seventh with a double and advanced to third on a ground out, only to be stranded there following back-to-back outs, including a strikeout when Meadows swung at a cutter in the dirt. The Pirates led off the first and second innings with back-to-back singles, but only scored one run in the first when Starling Marte hit a sacrifice fly to score Harrison.
Following Marte's sacrifice fly, Meadows was thrown out trying to steal second with one out. Then, the Pirates' defense failed to give Kuhl a lift. The right-hander walked Montgomery with one out in the second before Kris Bryant hit a ball deep in the hole between Mercer and Moran.
Mercer backhanded the ball but he lost control of it in his glove, allowing both runners to reach safely. Jason Heyward then lined a single to center before Ben Zobrist hit a grounder to Harrison. Harrison backhanded the ball but with no one covering second, Harrison sprinted over to the bag for the force out, but his throw to first was too late, allowing a run to score for a 3-1 Cubs lead:
"These guys know it, I know it, we’re together as a group in here," Hurdle said afterwards. "And it’s not a try-hard league. It’s a do-good league. When you don’t do well enough you don’t win. We didn’t win today. We fought."
The Cubs, on the other hand, capitalized on Kuhl's mistakes early and received six scoreless innings from Montgomery, who began the season as a reliever. They also had nine hits, three by Bryant and two from Willson Contreras, and scored two runs in the first with three consecutive hits, including a double by Jason Heyward.
The Cubs' bullpen then shut the Pirates down for the final three innings. More important, they received three outstanding catches from Happ, a Mt. Lebanon native. With two on and two outs in the third inning, Dickerson hit a flare to shallow left that Happ robbed. Then, with two outs in the sixth, Moran hit an elevated cutter to deep left, only for Happ to make an over-the-shoulder, full extension catch.
With two outs in the ninth, Happ did this:
"He probably should have gotten the save today, along with [reliever Pedro Strop]," Hurdle said.
Harrison added: "Honestly, I knew I didn’t catch it flush. I thought Colin hit his ball a little bit better than mine. The fact he caught up to [that], and just looking at the wind it held up a little bit. Not to take away from the play he made, but I knew it had just enough hang time."
Dickerson's reaction, though, summarized what's plagued the Pirates in recent weeks. Although they've hit or pitched well enough at times, they've made too many mistakes, and it's caused them to tumble down the standings.
"There's been a bunch of games that have been decided by different things that we should have won or had the opportunity to win," Dickerson said. "More than a handful. If we pull those out we’d be in a completely different place right now. ... We know where we're at."
1. Cervelli also producing in the field.
The Cubs could have done more damage against Kuhl early. The right-hander couldn't throw his four-seam fastball for a strike, and he didn't seem interested in throwing his sinker. Instead, he tried to throw his breaking balls in hitter's counts, and the hitters ... well, hit them.
"Aggressive team," Kuhl said. "They took advantage of some baseballs that were left out over the plate. Try to slow things down, execute pitches and do your best from there."
Five of the first eight batters reached safely, and he walked Montgomery in the second after getting ahead 2-0. He gained traction by throwing the sinker for strikes and mixing in his three breaking pitches, producing six swinging strikes with his 28 curveballs. Besides Joe Musgrove, Kuhl's 3.95 ERA is the lowest on the staff, and he's struck out a team-high 69 in 73 innings.
Francisco Cervelli, though, was also responsible for keeping the Cubs off the plate. In addition to navigating Kuhl through the start, Cervelli caught two baserunners trying to steal second base, giving him nine in 48 games this season. Cervelli, 31, threw out 11 all of last season.
He threw out Bryant after the former National League MVP singled with two outs in the fourth, followed by this incredible play when Kuhl struck out Anthony Rizzo with a slider low and away:
"Threw the ball well," Hurdle said of Cervelli. "That was big a part of anything we were able to do today to keep them off the plate as well. Yeah, we did a number of things well, but we didn’t do enough of them."
Cervelli, batting cleanup with Bell out, is now batting .269 with a .917 OPS, a career-high nine home runs and a team-high 35 RBIs. He's a favorite to be selected to his first All-Star game, and his work behind the plate only adds to that impressive resume.
2. Harrison setting the tone.
Harrison had eight hits in his first three games coming off the disabled list last month; however, he followed that hot start with only seven hits in his next 40 at-bats, striking out nine times in that span. He's returned to form this week, though, which is a promising development for the Pirates' struggling offense.
Harrison went 2 for 5 against the Cubs, singling in each of his first two at-bats. It was Harrison's third consecutive multi-hit game, and although the middle of the order has failed to capitalize on opportunities, the Pirates need production atop the order. Plus, he's been a run producer batting leadoff.
Harrison is batting .488 with runners on base and is 9 for 19 with runners in scoring position. The Pirates are a different team when he's in the lineup. Now they just have to get everyone else going.
3. Neverauskas not the answer.
The Pirates are in desperate need of help in the bullpen. In an unusual turn of events, Richard Rodriguez became a stabilizing force, and they'll now be without him for at least the next nine days. He was placed on the 10-day disabled list Friday and replaced by Neverauskas on the 25-man roster.
Neverauskas had a 2.10 WHIP and allowed eight earned runs in 6 2/3 innings before being sent to Triple-A Indianapolis, but the Pirates were in desperate need of someone to pitch multiple innings. He proved capable of that Friday. Neverauskas entered in the seventh to face the top of the order and retired five of the six batters he faced over two innings.
Neverauskas, who became the first Lithuanian-born player on an opening day roster, reached 98 mph and was able to command his curveball, striking out Ben Zobrist looking to end the seventh. He also struck out Bryant in the seventh and Rizzo in the eighth.
After allowing a one-out single in the eighth, Neverauskas got Albert Almora Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play.
"Be more aggressive," Neverauskas said of his mentality. "Throw curveball, slider, fastball for a strike. See what the feedback I get from hitters. See how my stuff plays instead of being passive. Try to get swing and miss."
The Pirates will need to see more of this version of Neverauskas. After all, there are few options at Triple-A. Had Neverauskas not been available, the Pirates could have recalled Johnny Hellweg or Bo Schultz. Hellweg, a 29-year-old signed by the Pirates last summer after a season in Independent ball, has a 0.96 WHIP in Triple-A, but he hasn't pitched in the major leagues since 2013. Schultz, meanwhile, has a 1.20 WHIP in Indianapolis, but he hasn't pitched in the majors since 2016.