Pittsburgh built a mountain early and needed every brick of it. The Pirates scored seven runs across the second and third innings, then spent the rest of the night watching Chicago claw back, before closing it out 8-7 at PNC Park.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 0 |
| PIT | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 8 | 11 | 0 |
Ryan O'Hearn was the difference. He went 1-for-2 with a home run, four RBI and two walks, capping the third-inning outburst with a three-run shot to center that scored Lowe, Reynolds and Valdez. Esmerlyn Valdez also went deep, a two-run rbi effort finishing 2-for-3, and Sam Ross added a solo homer of his own in the second.
The scoring started with Chicago in front, as Swanson's single brought home Conforto for a 1-0 lead in the second. Pittsburgh answered immediately: Valdez homered to left-center to tie it, and Ross followed with a two-run shot, scoring O'Hearn, to put the Pirates ahead for good. The next inning, O'Hearn's blast to center brought in three more, pushing the score to 1-7 and putting the game out of easy reach.
Chicago chipped away all night. Kelly's groundout, Ramirez's single and Crow-Armstrong's triple produced three runs in the fourth, and Hoerner's single in the eighth made it 5-8. Then Seiya Suzuki, who finished 1-for-5, hit a two-run homer in the ninth to pull the Cubs within a run at 7-8. Jameson Taillon took the loss, allowing 7 runs on 6 hits over 4.0 innings, now 2-6 on the season with a 5.92 ERA.
Braxton Ashcraft got the win for Pittsburgh, working 6.0 innings and allowing 4 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits, improving to 10-4 with a 4.05 ERA. Mason Montgomery closed it out for his second save, though he allowed 2 runs in the ninth before securing the final outs. The Pirates, who improved to 54-52, snapped a losing skid with the win, while the Cubs fell to 59-46.