CHICAGO -- Crew Chief Tom Hallion took off his headset, signaled safe and “Go Cubs Go” blasted through the speakers at Wrigley Stadium for a second time.
The ruling was there wasn’t definitive evidence that Colin Moran had tagged Frank Schwindel before he reached first base, crediting him with the game-winning hit as the Cubs took their third straight win over the Pirates Saturday, 7-6.
“From our angle, it looked like he tagged him, but that's not how it went,” Derek Shelton said, saying he had only seen replays from the scoreboard before the final call was made.
No questions, just sing. #Walkoff #GoCubsGo pic.twitter.com/ZYkRkfzLtk
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 4, 2021
The replay was close. Kevin Newman ranged deep in the hole and had to make a jump throw to try to get the out. It got there in time, but Schwindel dove and dodged to his right to just evade the tag:
"It sucks,” reliever Chasen Shreve said about the loss. “There's not really much else you can say.”
It was another installment in what has been as agonizing a trip to Chicago in recent memory.
After being swept in a brief two-game set against the White Sox, second baseman Wilmer Difo lost an 11th inning pop up to the wind Thursday night, starting the series with a 6-5 defeat to the Cubs. On Friday, they rallied back from being down 5-0 to just lose by the same score again.
And then there was Saturday’s fiasco of a finale, a play that could have been avoided had Ben Gamel been able to make this play in right:
“I don't know if he lost it in the lights, I don't know,” Shelton said. “But he's played well in the outfield for us, and it just happened [that] he didn't catch that ball today.”
Gamel entered the game in the sixth inning via a double switch after Duane Underwood Jr. was pulled with shoulder discomfort. That early pull came after starter JT Brubaker, who had just been activated off the injured list from his thumb contusion before the game, left in the fourth with shoulder discomfort as well.
With David Bednar unavailable after throwing two innings Thursday night, Shelton was short handed in the bullpen, needing to lean on Shreve and Chris Stratton for two innings each. Shreve posted two zeros, and Stratton was one out away from doing the same.
But a walk and three straight hits flipped the game.
“I mean, it sucks,” Shelton said. “We've played well [this series], and we've come back from deficits, and we've lost some games because we didn't catch the ball. And we need to catch the ball.”
GETTY
JT Brubaker exits in the fourth.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Brubaker rolled through the first three innings of Saturday's game, posting three zeros with little traffic on the bases, but he was pulled three batters into the fourth inning.
"It's tough, especially just trying to build off the Arizona outing," Brubaker said, referencing his last start before going on the injured list. "Was going good, was keeping the same mentality like I said the last time, one pitch at a time, and everything was going good. And then just came out of the game."
Brubaker declined to comment if he was experiencing shoulder pair before that inning.
Sam Howard allowed all three runners he inherited to score, ending Brubaker's night with three earned runs over 3+ innings with four hits, two walks and six strikeouts.
Underwood was positioned to go multiple innings in relief, but he was pulled in his second frame of work.
"Underwood, the way he described it, it was just tightness," Sheltons said. "And JT was having some trouble with extension, so when both those things come out, you have to get them out of the game."
• Before the game, the Pirates optioned Kyle Keller to make room for Brubaker.
Keller joined the team's taxi squad rather than going to Class AAA Indianapolis, so if either he or Underwood need to go on the injured list, he will likely be the player they recall.
• Five of the Pirates' runs came in the fifth inning in a bizarre rally that consisted of three walks, two singles and a hit batter.
The only run scoring hit of the inning was a two run single by Wilmer Difo, coming after Moran drew a bases loaded walk against Kyle Hendricks and Anthony Alford was hit by the next pitch.
"This guy's a good pitcher. We had good ABs," Shelton said "We continued to grind through it... The thing is we have to make sure that when we get five in an inning we have to continue to grind through it and give ourselves more run-scoring opportunities, and we didn't do that also."
The Pirates' only other run came on a first inning Yoshi Tsutsugo home run.
• The loss snaps what had been a good stretch for Stratton, who had not allowed a run to score over his last eight outings.
After being mostly middle relieve most of the season, both he and Shreve have pitched in latter inning and high leverage roles since the trade deadline. Pitching in a new role, Stratton had done well before failing to get that final out Saturday.
"We are two of the older guys in our 'pen, me and Strat," Shreve said. "We've been around. We've been put into these situations before. So I mean, we just stick with what's worked before and just keep on trucking."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
Video to come.
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Cole Tucker, CF
2. Yoshi Tsutsugo, RF
3. Jacob Stallings, C
4. Colin Moran, 1B
5. Anthony Alford, LF
6. Wilmer Difo, 2B
7. Kevin Newman, SS
8. Hoy Park, 3B
9. JT Brubaker, RHP
And for Andy Green's Cubs:
1. Rafael Ortega, CF
2. Frank Schwindel, 1B
3. Ian Happ, LF
4. Wilson Contreras, C
5. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
6. Matt Duffy, 2B
7. Jason Heyward, RF
8. Sergio Alcántara, SS
9. Kyle Hendricks, RHP
THE SYSTEM
• Indianapolis
• Altoona
• Greensboro
• Bradenton
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will conclude their week-long stint in Chicago Sunday afternoon, with the first pitch coming at 2:20 p.m. Eastern. Wil Crowe (3-7, 5.46) will face Zach Davies (6-10, 4.91). I've got you covered from the Windy City.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
