• They survive for a 4-3 win in 11 innings. YohanRamirez somehow gets the job done after his error. That’s a series win after seeing a three-run lead disappear. Braxton Ashcraft strikes out a career-high nine over five innings. Oneil Cruz collects four hits, three stolen bases
• Ramirez makes a great play on a ball hit back at him, but the throw to first is offline. Error allows Hoerner to get into second with the potential winning run. Ugly.
• RUN: Gonzales scores after what's ruled an infield single by Lowe and an error by Thielbar. Pirates, 4-3
• Ramirez loads the bases on two walks, one intentional, and strands them. Gets Swanson to ground out 4-3. On to the 11th.
• Pirates get one baserunner on a Yorke walk, but Mangum never gets the chance to leave second base. He's stranded and the Cubs have a chance to win it in the 10th. YohanRamirez enters.
• RUN: Bregman delivers with a game-tying single. Was down to the last strike. Tied at 3-3
• Bill Murphy visits Santana after a second walk of the inning puts two on with two outs for Bregman.
• Pirates are set down in order in the ninth. Santana enters with a one-run lead.
• Dennis Santana warming.
• Mattson strikes out Amaya with a 3-2 slider to end a 10-pitch at-bat. Mattson lets a little emotion out after that one. Big moment there.
• Two-out single to right for PCA puts two on for Amaya. Changeup down and way out of the zone it looked like. PCA goes down and gets it.
• Bregman leads off the eight with a single to right. Mattson fell behind and left a fastball on the outer third. Bregman goes the other way with it.
• Isaac Mattson gets the eighth. O'Hearn to first base, Cook to right field.
• Four strikeouts on the day for Davis. Fourth one ends the top of the seventh.
• Soto gets Busch to pop out in foul territory. One pitch, one big out to end the seventh.
• Gregory Soto replaces Justin Lawrence with two outs in the seventh. He'll face the lefty in Busch.
• RUN: Amaya scores from third on an RBI groundout for Swanson. It's a one-run game. Pirates, 3-2
• Wild pitch allows both runners to move up.
• Cubs are in business after a walk to Amaya and single by Conforto.
• Leadoff single by Reynolds and a walk to O'Hearn, but nothing comes from it. Ozuna double play and Yorke strikeout.
• Montgomery allows a hit to SeiyaSuzuki, but strikes out two, including PCA to end the sixth.
• The last four-hit, three-steal game by a Pirate: MattLawton at the Marlins on July 26, 2005.
• Montgomery gets the sixth. Final line for Ashcraft: 5.0 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 9 K (career high). He threw 50 of 77 pitches for strikes. Generated 16 whiffs.
• Lowe strikes out to strand Cruz, who advanced to third on a wild pitch.
• Cruz goes to left-center for a two-out double. A 4-for-4 effort.
• Mason Montgomery warming.
• Ashcraft limits the damage by getting Busch to swing through a 3-2 slider. Confidence doesn't waver with him. Sets a new career high with nine strikeouts.
• RUN: Conforto scores on a groundout by Hoerner. Pirates, 3-1
• Reynolds almost makes a sensational catch in left. Popped out of his glove as he was landing on the dive. Turns into a Swanson double.
• Eight strikeouts matches a career high for Ashcraft.
• Yorke goes oppo again for a double, his third hit of the game. Stranded at second, though.
• Ashcraft up to seven strikeouts after getting PCA to end the fourth. Set his career high with eight last time out.
• Reynolds grounds out to first to end the threat. Runners stranded on the corners.
• Lowe walks. Cabrera already up to 81 pitches.
• Cruz picks up his third stolen base of the game. Fifth of the season. Went to third on an ugly throw by Amaya. He's 90 feet away with two outs.
• It's the fourth inning and Cruz is already 3 for 3. Two steals in that stat line, too. Productive day at the top of the lineup.
• Hoerner comes up with a two-out single, but Ashcraft gets Busch to ground out 4-3 to end the third. Ashcraft up to 45 pitches over three innings. Six strikeouts.
• Ashcraft is dealing. About a mile per hour increase with his fastball velo, too. Sitting around 97 on average here early on. Plenty of swing and miss with that and the curveball.
• Yorke keeps hitting. Two-out single and advances to second on an error by Happ in left. Runners on second and third for Horwitz.
• RUN: O'Hearn hits a sac fly to right, allowing Lowe to score from third. More added on. Pirates, 3-0
• RUN: Reynolds singles to right and Cruz scores from second. Aggressive, but correct send by Tony Beasley. Pirates, 2-0
• Pirates have two on again to start the third. Leadoff single and a stolen base for Cruz followed by a walk to Lowe.
• Ashcraft gives up a one-out single to Ballesteros but strikes out the other three batters he faces. Turned to the curveball to get Happ and PCA swinging. Then went to the slider in a 3-2 count to get Amaya chasing.
• Griffin singles and picks up his first big-league stolen base. Shows off those impressive wheels.
• RUN: No RBI but Horwitz gets the job done. Grounds into a 6-3 double play that allows Ozuna to score. Pirates, 1-0
• Ozuna walks and Yorke goes opposite field for a single. Netting is in play, so no ground-rule double. Runners on the corners with nobody out. That's the 42nd time a Pirates hitter has gone oppo so far this season. Fifth time for Yorke.
• Davis challenges a ball call that turns into strike three on Bregman. I doubted Henry there. Bad call on my part. Two punchouts for Ashcraft in the first.
• Ashcraft very fastball and curveball heavy early. Just went back-to-back curves and get two swings and misses from Busch to put him away.
• O'Hearn has the result they needed from Reynolds. Flies out to left to strand Cruz.
• Not a good at-bat there by Reynolds. Was ahead 3-0 and ended up swinging at a curveball in the dirt for strike three.
• Cruz swipes second and advances to third on a groundout by Lowe. Productive AB there. Cruz is 90 feet away with one out.
• Cruz leads off the game with a single into right to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Longest of his career is 11 games.
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Cubs, 2:20 p.m. Eastern, Edward Cabrera to Oneil Cruz, 50 degrees, cloudy, Wrigley Field
• Don Kelly's lineup:
1. Oneil Cruz, CF 2. Brandon Lowe, 2B 3. Bryan Reynolds, LF 4. Ryan O'Hearn, RF 5. Marcell Ozuna, DH 6. Nick Yorke, 3B 7. Spencer Horwitz, 1B 8. Konnor Griffin, SS 9. Henry Davis, C
• Craig Counsell's lineup:
1. Nico Hoerner, 2B 2. Michael Busch, 1B 3. Alex Bregman, 3B 4. Ian Happ, LF 5. Moises Ballesteros, DH 6. Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF 7. Miguel Amaya, C 8. Michael Conforto, RF 9. Dansby Swanson, SS
THE ASYLUM
Final: Pirates 4, Cubs 3, 11th inning
• Who: Pirates (8-5) vs. Cubs (6-7)
• What: MLB regular season, Game 14
• When: 2:20 p.m. Eastern
• Where: Wrigley Field
• Pitchers: RHP Braxton Ashcraft (1-1, 2.25 ERA) vs. RHP Edward Cabrera (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh, Marquee Sports Network
• Stream: SNP 360 (local), MLB.tv (out of market)
• Radio: Pirates Radio Network
• Satellite: SiriusXM 175/861
• Boxscore: MLB.com
• Media notes: Pirates | Cubs
► FOLLOW ALONG
• They survive for a 4-3 win in 11 innings. Yohan Ramirez somehow gets the job done after his error. That’s a series win after seeing a three-run lead disappear. Braxton Ashcraft strikes out a career-high nine over five innings. Oneil Cruz collects four hits, three stolen bases
• Ramirez makes a great play on a ball hit back at him, but the throw to first is offline. Error allows Hoerner to get into second with the potential winning run. Ugly.
• RUN: Gonzales scores after what's ruled an infield single by Lowe and an error by Thielbar. Pirates, 4-3
• Ramirez loads the bases on two walks, one intentional, and strands them. Gets Swanson to ground out 4-3. On to the 11th.
• Pirates get one baserunner on a Yorke walk, but Mangum never gets the chance to leave second base. He's stranded and the Cubs have a chance to win it in the 10th. Yohan Ramirez enters.
• RUN: Bregman delivers with a game-tying single. Was down to the last strike. Tied at 3-3
• Bill Murphy visits Santana after a second walk of the inning puts two on with two outs for Bregman.
• Pirates are set down in order in the ninth. Santana enters with a one-run lead.
• Dennis Santana warming.
• Mattson strikes out Amaya with a 3-2 slider to end a 10-pitch at-bat. Mattson lets a little emotion out after that one. Big moment there.
• Two-out single to right for PCA puts two on for Amaya. Changeup down and way out of the zone it looked like. PCA goes down and gets it.
• Bregman leads off the eight with a single to right. Mattson fell behind and left a fastball on the outer third. Bregman goes the other way with it.
• Isaac Mattson gets the eighth. O'Hearn to first base, Cook to right field.
• Four strikeouts on the day for Davis. Fourth one ends the top of the seventh.
• Soto gets Busch to pop out in foul territory. One pitch, one big out to end the seventh.
• Gregory Soto replaces Justin Lawrence with two outs in the seventh. He'll face the lefty in Busch.
• RUN: Amaya scores from third on an RBI groundout for Swanson. It's a one-run game. Pirates, 3-2
• Wild pitch allows both runners to move up.
• Cubs are in business after a walk to Amaya and single by Conforto.
• Leadoff single by Reynolds and a walk to O'Hearn, but nothing comes from it. Ozuna double play and Yorke strikeout.
• Montgomery allows a hit to Seiya Suzuki, but strikes out two, including PCA to end the sixth.
• The last four-hit, three-steal game by a Pirate: Matt Lawton at the Marlins on July 26, 2005.
• Montgomery gets the sixth. Final line for Ashcraft: 5.0 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 9 K (career high). He threw 50 of 77 pitches for strikes. Generated 16 whiffs.
• Lowe strikes out to strand Cruz, who advanced to third on a wild pitch.
• Cruz goes to left-center for a two-out double. A 4-for-4 effort.
• Mason Montgomery warming.
• Ashcraft limits the damage by getting Busch to swing through a 3-2 slider. Confidence doesn't waver with him. Sets a new career high with nine strikeouts.
• RUN: Conforto scores on a groundout by Hoerner. Pirates, 3-1
• Reynolds almost makes a sensational catch in left. Popped out of his glove as he was landing on the dive. Turns into a Swanson double.
• Eight strikeouts matches a career high for Ashcraft.
• Yorke goes oppo again for a double, his third hit of the game. Stranded at second, though.
• Ashcraft up to seven strikeouts after getting PCA to end the fourth. Set his career high with eight last time out.
• Reynolds grounds out to first to end the threat. Runners stranded on the corners.
• Lowe walks. Cabrera already up to 81 pitches.
• Cruz picks up his third stolen base of the game. Fifth of the season. Went to third on an ugly throw by Amaya. He's 90 feet away with two outs.
• It's the fourth inning and Cruz is already 3 for 3. Two steals in that stat line, too. Productive day at the top of the lineup.
• Hoerner comes up with a two-out single, but Ashcraft gets Busch to ground out 4-3 to end the third. Ashcraft up to 45 pitches over three innings. Six strikeouts.
• Ashcraft is dealing. About a mile per hour increase with his fastball velo, too. Sitting around 97 on average here early on. Plenty of swing and miss with that and the curveball.
• Yorke keeps hitting. Two-out single and advances to second on an error by Happ in left. Runners on second and third for Horwitz.
• RUN: O'Hearn hits a sac fly to right, allowing Lowe to score from third. More added on. Pirates, 3-0
• RUN: Reynolds singles to right and Cruz scores from second. Aggressive, but correct send by Tony Beasley. Pirates, 2-0
• Pirates have two on again to start the third. Leadoff single and a stolen base for Cruz followed by a walk to Lowe.
• Ashcraft gives up a one-out single to Ballesteros but strikes out the other three batters he faces. Turned to the curveball to get Happ and PCA swinging. Then went to the slider in a 3-2 count to get Amaya chasing.
• Griffin singles and picks up his first big-league stolen base. Shows off those impressive wheels.
• RUN: No RBI but Horwitz gets the job done. Grounds into a 6-3 double play that allows Ozuna to score. Pirates, 1-0
• Ozuna walks and Yorke goes opposite field for a single. Netting is in play, so no ground-rule double. Runners on the corners with nobody out. That's the 42nd time a Pirates hitter has gone oppo so far this season. Fifth time for Yorke.
• Davis challenges a ball call that turns into strike three on Bregman. I doubted Henry there. Bad call on my part. Two punchouts for Ashcraft in the first.
• Ashcraft very fastball and curveball heavy early. Just went back-to-back curves and get two swings and misses from Busch to put him away.
• O'Hearn has the result they needed from Reynolds. Flies out to left to strand Cruz.
• Not a good at-bat there by Reynolds. Was ahead 3-0 and ended up swinging at a curveball in the dirt for strike three.
• Cruz swipes second and advances to third on a groundout by Lowe. Productive AB there. Cruz is 90 feet away with one out.
• Cruz leads off the game with a single into right to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Longest of his career is 11 games.
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Cubs, 2:20 p.m. Eastern, Edward Cabrera to Oneil Cruz, 50 degrees, cloudy, Wrigley Field
• Don Kelly's lineup:
1. Oneil Cruz, CF
2. Brandon Lowe, 2B
3. Bryan Reynolds, LF
4. Ryan O'Hearn, RF
5. Marcell Ozuna, DH
6. Nick Yorke, 3B
7. Spencer Horwitz, 1B
8. Konnor Griffin, SS
9. Henry Davis, C
• Craig Counsell's lineup:
1. Nico Hoerner, 2B
2. Michael Busch, 1B
3. Alex Bregman, 3B
4. Ian Happ, LF
5. Moises Ballesteros, DH
6. Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF
7. Miguel Amaya, C
8. Michael Conforto, RF
9. Dansby Swanson, SS
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