A much jollier roger
After being routed 21-0, Pirates’ bullpen holds off Cubs, who left bases loaded in 9th inning
Dillon Peters keyed a solid performance by Pittsburgh’s bullpen and Kevin Newman had two hits, helping the Pirates beat the Cubs 4-3 on Sunday.
Peters (3-0) pitched 2 ⅔ scoreless innings in relief of JT Brubaker, and provided the Pirates a big lift after their 21-0 loss Saturday. The left-hander allowed one hit while running his season-opening score less streak to 10⅓ innings over five appearances.
Heath Hem bree surrendered Ian Hap p’ s first homer of the season in the eighth, but David Bednar worked the ninth for his second save. Peters, Wil Crowe, Hembree, Chris Stratton and Bed narc om bin ed for six innings of one-run ball on a rainy afternoon that turned into partly cloudy skies by the end of the game.
Chicago put runners on second and third in the ninth, but Willson Contreras struck out swinging for the second out. After Happ was walked intentionally, Frank Schwindel also struck out swinging, ending the game.
Newman, Yoshi Tsutsugo and Ben Gamel each drove in a run for the Pirates, who took three of four in the series.
A day after it collected 23 hits during a historic romp, Chicago lost for the fifth time in six games overall.
Shortstop Jonathan Villar committed a throwing error that brought home a run in the fourth, and the Cubs wasted a prime scoring opportunity in the seventh. With none out and runners on the corners, Nick Madrigal struck out looking, Rafael Ortega fouled out and Seiya Suzuki flied to center.
Patrick Wisdom also struck out swinging against Stratton with two runners on in the eighth.
The Cubs got off to another solid start, scoring in the first inning for the third time in the series. They have 16 first-inning runs over 16 games this season.
Ortega scampered home on a rare error on slick-fielding third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Frank Schwindel added an RBI single. But Brubaker limited the damage by striking out Villar and Jason Heyward.