Cubs erase Pirates’ 3-2 lead with bases-loaded pressure, win 4-3 at Wrigley

Early power, then a long pause

Chicago’s first two runs came in the cleanest possible way: Michael Busch opened the scoring with a solo shot to center in the first, and Pedro Ramirez added another to right-center in the third. For much of the afternoon, those swings defined the shape of the Cubs’ offense. There were not many base hits to build around, but there was enough power to put pressure on Pittsburgh to answer.

That made Paul Skenes’ outing feel even stronger than the final score. The Pirates right-hander gave Pittsburgh seven innings, allowed just four hits, walked one and struck out four. The problem was that two of those four hits left the yard. He also had defensive help behind him, with Pittsburgh turning five double plays. That mattered because the Cubs still reached base plenty of other ways, drawing three walks and taking three hit batters, yet twice grounded into double plays and never truly opened the game while Skenes was in it.

The Pirates found their swing — but not enough of them

Pittsburgh’s answer finally arrived in the sixth, and it arrived all at once. Ryan O’Hearn drove a three-run homer to right, with Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds scoring ahead of him, turning a 2-0 Cubs lead into a 3-2 Pirates advantage. It was the biggest swing of the day for either side, and it changed the conversation around Clay Holmes, who finished with 5 2/3 innings, five hits allowed, four walks and six strikeouts. Holmes was charged with three runs, though only two were earned, a reminder that Chicago’s lone error helped give that inning more room to grow.

But the Pirates never added on, and that is where this game slipped away from them. They finished with six hits and five walks, more traffic than Chicago created, yet left 18 runners on base. Outside of O’Hearn’s homer, there was no extra-base follow-up at all: no doubles, no triples, just one damaging ball. After Holmes departed, the Cubs bullpen kept every inherited runner from scoring and then carried the game into the late innings still within a run. That restraint gave Chicago one more chance, and one chance was all it needed.

An eighth inning built on pressure, not volume

The decisive rally did not come from a barrage of hits. It came from Chicago forcing Pittsburgh to keep defending with the bases loaded. In the eighth against Gregory Soto, Matt Shaw drew a walk that forced in Ramirez to tie the game 3-3. The Cubs kept the inning alive, and Nico Hoerner was then hit by a pitch, bringing home Alex Bregman for the go-ahead run. Chicago scored twice in the inning while recording only one hit there, which says a lot about how narrow the margin had become for the Pirates.

From that point, the Cubs’ relief work finished the job. Jacob Webb, Ryan Rolison and Ryan Zeferjahn combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two. Zeferjahn collected the save, but the larger bullpen contribution was the collective refusal to let Pittsburgh cash in after the sixth. The Pirates had 11 baserunners across the afternoon; the Cubs’ relievers made sure almost all of that belonged to the part of the game that no longer changed the score.

Our take: Chicago accepted the messy game better

Our take: this was one of those baseball games where the box score dares you to look past the final inning, and you should not. Pittsburgh had more hits, drew more walks and backed Skenes with five double plays. Usually that is a workable recipe. On this day it still ended in a loss because the Pirates turned too few of their chances into meaningful contact and then handed Chicago the tying and winning runs on a walk and a hit batter. Leaving 18 on base is not a side note here; it is the central fact of the result.

For Pittsburgh, the clearest area to clean up is converting traffic into sustained offense. Six hits and five walks should have produced more than one scoring swing, especially when the Cubs’ starter needed 100 pitches to get through 5 2/3 innings. For Chicago, the comeback should not hide the thinner edges beneath it. The Cubs won with five hits, hit into two double plays and leaned on free baserunners to rescue the eighth. That can work for a day, especially when the bullpen covers 3 1/3 innings so sharply, but it is still a reminder that timely power and late pressure saved an offense that spent long stretches searching for a second act.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Busch homered to center (415 feet).

2. 3rd Inning

   Ramirez homered to right center (393 feet).

3. 6th Inning

   O'Hearn homered to right (379 feet), Lowe scored and Reynolds scored.

4. 8th Inning

   Shaw walked, Ramirez scored, Suzuki to second, Bregman to third.

5. 8th Inning

   Hoerner hit by pitch, Bregman scored, Shaw to second, Suzuki to third.