The Cubs took the Pirates to extras today – moral victory, eye roll – but lost on a walk-off blooper. Oy. Hopefully at least Ke’Bryan Hayes is OK after the collision with Willson Contreras.
In the top of the 10th, the Cubs had a golden chance to score that freebie runner, with Patrick Wisdom running from third and one out. But Jason Heyward’s groundball to the right side (*drink*) gave the Pirates a play at the plate. It sure LOOKED like the tag was too high and Wisdom slid under it, but the replay review said the original out call would stand. The better and slower replays aren’t up yet, and the Pirates version doesn’t really show where Wisdom’s foot is when the tag hits his knee – replays sure made it look safe to me.
The Cubs battled back from a four-run deficit to take the lead in the top of the 8th inning – just a whole buncha base hits, it was fun – but the very first pitch David Robertson threw in the bottom of the 8th went out of the park to tie things right back up.
It was a little odd to see Robertson come in for the 8th inning instead of the 9th. Middle of the order, I guess? Was the plan to let him try to go two innings? I think it was the first one, because Robertson otherwise cruised and then Scott Effross came in for the 9th. I’m fine with that decision – if it had been a planned two-inning appearance for Robertson, I would’ve liked it a whole lot less.
Justin Steele pitched much better than the final line. The homers are on him, sure (ironic given Bryan’s research earlier today!), but you won’t always give up homers when you make a mistake pitch. Frankly, the defense was of little help to him, and the swing-and-miss stuff was on point. I thought he looked good overall.
Nice games at the plate from Nelson Velazquez and Nico Hoerner, among others.
The errors today were ridiculous from the Cubs, and the mistakes obscure what was otherwise a nice day for the bats who were keeping the line moving. Well, later in the game, at least.