Nothing happened for four innings. Then everything did. The Chicago Cubs turned a scoreless game into an 11-0 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates, scoring in four straight innings from the fifth through the eighth to bury the home team under a barrage of extra-base hits.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 16 | 1 |
| PIT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
Shota Imanaga set the tone before the offense ever got going, working six scoreless innings and allowing just four hits with one walk and four strikeouts. He improved to 7-8 with the win, carrying a 3.72 ERA. Javier Assad closed out three innings of one-hit relief, striking out three without allowing a run to secure his first save of the season.
The Cubs broke the tie for good in the fifth when Crow-Armstrong doubled to center to score Swanson, giving Chicago a lead it would not relinquish. Suzuki followed with a single that brought home both Amaya and Crow-Armstrong to make it 3-0. The sixth inning was worse for Pittsburgh: Swanson doubled home Hoerner, Amaya singled in two more runs, and Busch added another two-run single as the Cubs pushed the score to 8-0. Crow-Armstrong capped his night with a 390-foot home run in the seventh that scored Ramirez, and Ramirez added an eighth-inning double to bring home Triantos for the final margin.
Paul Skenes struck out 11 over 5.1 innings but allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and took the loss, falling to 9-9 with a 3.65 ERA. The Pittsburgh bullpen could not stop the bleeding either, allowing 6 runs over 3.2 innings as the Cubs' 16-hit attack kept coming. Crow-Armstrong finished 4-for-5 with a homer, two doubles and 3 RBIs to lead the offense, while Busch and Amaya each drove in two runs.
The win moved Chicago to 59-45, extending its win streak to two, while Pittsburgh fell to 53-52 with its third straight loss.