Game Recap: Cubs offense struggles in extra-inning loss to Pirates

Matt Marton - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 17 hours ago

CHICAGO - At some point, you knew the Chicago Cubs (42-28) would lose a few, but no one expected it to regress this quickly. Stuck in the middle of a lengthy offensive slump, it's starting to look like one of those June swoons offensively for this team, as the runs have been challenging to come by.

That continued to be the case on Friday as the Cubs were once again matched up with Pittsburgh Pirates (29-42) right-hander Paul Skenes, as they have faced him in every series since last year. When you look back at the past three weeks and some of their offensive struggles, a lot of that can be credited to the starting pitching, as the Cubs have faced some very good starters as of late.

They won't use that as an excuse, and following a 2-1 extra-inning loss to the Pirates at Wrigley, the lack of offense in recent weeks is starting to reach a concerning level. There is no debate about how good Skenes is and how good he can be, as he entered Friday with a sub-1.9 ERA despite a losing record.

Even if he didn't have his best stuff on Friday, Skenes continued to go about his business as he gave the Pirates five shutout innings, walking two and striking out five. The Cubs did a great job of making him work, as he needed nearly 100 pitches to get through those five innings, but he did what he had to do to keep the Cubs' offense in check.

Facing off against Skenes was Cade Horton, who continued to prove himself on the big-league level. Across his 5 2/3 innings, Horton walked one and struck out four while allowing three hits. He also didn't allow an earned run as his ERA fell to 3.47 for the season. While runs were at a premium in this one, the game came down to RISP in scoring position, which the Cubs went 0-10 in those situations.

It doesn't matter if Skenes is on the mound or anyone, for that matter, if you go 0-10 with runners in scoring position, chances are you won't win that game, and that alone is a massive reason why the Cubs were unable to capitalize. Through two-plus innings, each team managed to come away with just one hit until the Cubs' offense started to make some noise in the bottom of the third.

What started with a one-out single from Reese McGuire was followed by an Ian Happ walk as the Cubs had a pair of runners on with the heart of the order coming up. Anytime you get a scoring chance like that with Skenes on the mound, you have to find a way to get it done, and the Cubs failed to do that as they stranded both runners to keep things 0-0.

That seemed to be the momentum shift the Pirates needed as they put a pair of runners on base in the fourth, only to have Horton turn them away without any damage. The key play in this game came in the bottom of the fifth, and it came after Happ worked a two-out walk to keep the inning alive. That was followed by Kyle Tucker's double, only to have Happ get thrown out trying to score on the play. If he scores, this game will never reach extra innings, but that is how things work, as the game remained scoreless through seven innings.

With the game in the hands of the bullpen, Brad Keller was called on to pitch the eighth and immediately allowed a leadoff double to Henry Davis to set the Pirates offense up yet again. Davis would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt before coming home to score on an Oneil Cruz fielder's choice that saw the Pirates grab the 1-0 lead.

Down to their final six outs, the Cubs knew it was now or never for their offense. With Tucker leading off with a walk ahead of Seiya Suzuki's single, it was the Cubs' turn to put a pair of runners on and no outs. Pittsburgh came close to escaping the inning without damage as Dennis Santana picked up two ground outs to end the frame, but one of those two resulted in an RBI off the bat of Dansby Swanson that made this a 1-1 game.

Those were the only runs of regulation as the Cubs were once again put in a tough spot with extra innings needed to decide this one. With Drew Pomeranz called on to pitch the 10th, the Pirates were set up nicely as Ke'Bryan Hayes' single put a pair of runners on with no outs. That was followed by a Davis walk to load the bases with Isaiah Kiner-Falefa coming through with the go-ahead sacrifice fly that put the Pirates in front 2-1.

Pomeranz managed to limit the damage by picking up an inning-ending double play, but with a run coming across to score, it was up to the Cubs and their offense to get things done. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to come through as David Bednar retired the side in order in the 10th to secure a 2-1 win for the Pirates.