Cubs rally past Pirates to inch closer in division race

Matt Marton - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Thursday, June 15 2023

CHICAGO - Anyone can still win it. That was Jed Hoyer's motto when the Chicago Cubs (30-37) returned to Wrigley Field this week for a huge three-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates (34-32).

“Anyone can still win it,” Hoyer said to reporters Thursday in pre-game. “No one has pulled away, or even pulled away from .500. And that's one of the challenges of evaluating your team, is that you're evaluating where you are in the standings, but you're also evaluating how you're performing.”

With most of the division separated by five games or less, all it takes is for someone to get hot, and they could separate themselves from the pack.

It may be the Cub's turn to get hot, as that has been few and far between for this team since April. Coming off a dominating performance on Tuesday, the Cubs looked to make it two-straight against the first-place Pirates and pick up another series win. Things were not looking good early as the Cubs trailed 5-1 entering the sixth.

Then came the bottom of the sixth, where the Cubs offense erupted for six runs before adding three more in the eighth as Chicago completed a massive comeback for one of their better wins of the season, 10-6. Drew Smyly was on the mound for the Cubs, and despite putting up great numbers this season, he has been struggling a bit lately.

Smyly was far from perfect, as he allowed five runs on nine hits. However, he did what he has done all season long: give the Cubs length as Smyly got through six innings while the offense backed him late to get him another win. Opposing him was Osvaldo Bido, as the 27 old was making his MLB debut. Despite allowing just one run with six strikeouts, Bido struggled to put hitters away as a high pitch count forced him out of the game after just four innings. That was the key to this victory as the Cubs got to the Pirates pen for the second night in a row.

As shaky as Smyly was, it was the first inning where most of that damage came from, with Andrew McCutchen leading off the game with a lead-off homer to put the Pirates on top 1-0. Bryan Reynolds followed that up with a single before another longball made things 3-0 four batters in. This time it was Carlos Santana coming through as he delivered a massive four-RBI night for the Pirates.

Trailing by three in the bottom of the first, the Cubs used a barrage of singles to push their first run across as Mike Tauchman, Seiya Suzuki, and Dansby Swanson all had first-inning singles. The Swanson single brought home the Cub's first run, as all but one of the Cub's hits in the game were singles.

After scoring once in the first, the Cubs had an opportunity for more in the second, with Yan Gomes and Nick Madrigal picking up a pair of one-out walks only to be left stranded. That has been a struggle most of the season for the Cubs, but the same can't be said about the Pirates in the early stages, with Reynolds leading off the third with a double and coming home on the Santana single to push the lead to 4-1. Smyly continued to struggle in the fourth, allowing his third homer of the game with this one coming to Austin Hedges, and it was all Pittsburgh at this point 5-1.

From that point on, it was all Chicago and started with Smyly keeping the Pirates off the board despite having to pitch around traffic. Still trailing by four in the sixth, it took the Cub's offense a while to get going, but they came to life in a big way in their half of the sixth. With Roansy Contreras on the mound, the Cubs opened the sixth in a big way as Swanson and Christopher Morel started things off with a pair of singles before a one-out walk to Gomes loaded the bases.

Madrigal kept the line moving with a bases-loaded walk to bring home the Cub's second run, but the Tauchman single made things 5-4 and seemingly had the Cubs with all of the momenta on their side. Two batters later, it was another walk with this one coming from Suzuki to load the bases again before the suddenly producing Ian Happ cashed in for the go-ahead single.

Since David Ross moved Suzuki and Happ around in the lineup, Happ seems more comfortable at the plate and has as many RBIs this week as he has had in nearly a month. Already with five runs in the sixth, Swanson capped off the sixth with his second single of the inning as the Cubs now lead 7-5 with their bullpen set to come in. If this team has one glaring weakness, it would be the Cubs bullpen, but they have been better lately.

First out of the pen for the Cubs was Michael Fulmer, who has started to get into a nice groove after his rough patch in April and May. Although Fulmer allowed consecutive singles to Reynolds and Connor Joe to put runners on the corners, he was able to limit the damage as Santana picked up a sacrifice fly to close the gap to 7-6 before Fulmer worked out of the inning.

That proved significant as Ross had his two best guys lined up for the eighth and ninth, with Mark Leiter Jr on to pitch the eighth and making quick work. Looking for insurance late in the game, the Cubs obliged as the top of the order continued to do the damage. This time it was singles from Tauchman and Nico Hoerner getting things rolling before the Suzuki double pushed the lead to 9-6.

The Suzuki double was the lone extra-base hit for the Cubs, making their offensive output much more impressive. After entering the game as a pinch hitter earlier, Trey Mancini capped off the scoring for the Cubs as his RBI single up the middle made things 10-6 and had the Cubs three outs away from a huge win. Out came Adbert Alzolay to pitch the ninth, and despite allowing the first two hitters to reach, Alzolay locked things down and finished off the Pirates for the 10-6 win.

“A really nice comeback win for us,” Cubs manager David Ross said after the game. “Those have been a little few and far between. I love how the offense picked up the pitching tonight.”

Tauchman and Swanson had massive days at the plate as they came away with three hits a piece and a combined four RBIs. Suzuki added two hits and two RBIs, with Happ also picking up two RBIs in a balanced offensive attack.

The Cubs will look for the sweep on Wednesday as they send the ERA leader Marcus Stroman to the mound to face the ageless wonder Rich Hill.