Pirates betrayed by defense
pitch sinker for a three-run home run, his third homer in the past four days, staking the Cubs to a 4-0 lead.
Consider the second misplay, in the second, when the bases were loaded. Osuna tracked Ben Zobrist’s fly ball on the warning track. Osuna leaped. The ball flopped off the side of his glove. Rather than settle for a sacrifice fly, Zobrist stood on second,, gifted with a three-run double.
“[Osuna] usually gloves it when he gets to it,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
It seemed almost as if Cubs manager Joe Maddon, aware of the Pirates’ recent shaky defense and lack of outfield depth, had suggested his hitters target right field.
Of the Cubs’ eight hits before Kuhl was yanked with two out in the second, none were to the left side of the diamond.
And consider the third misplay, in the third. The first pitch from reliever Trevor Williams to Russell with runners at second and third whizzed to the backstop. The baseball ricocheted back to Cervelli, who caught it on the fly and scrambled back to home plate to apply the tag. As he did so, the ball popped out of his mitt and plopped on the ground.
“When we made contact, I dropped it,” Cervelli said. “That’s it. No excuse.”
At that point, down, 10-1, little hope remained. The Pirates (7-9) began clearing the bench. A week removed from the Pirates’ sweep at Wrigley Field, the Cubs (118) broke serve in Pittsburgh.
For Kuhl, anything but calm and collected when he returned to the dugout in the second, it marked the worst outing of his major league career. In 1⅔ innings, Kuhl allowed eight hits and nine runs — all earned,, officially — walked four and struck out one. Kuhl exited with a 6.63 ERA and a scowl.
“You're going to have bad nights,” Kuhl said. “You can't be a slave to the numbers, the ERA. This is just going to skew it for a while.”
In four career starts against the Cubs, Kuhl has a 15.75 ERA. Hurdle said Kuhl “didn’t have his best stuff,” and also was hurt by Osuna’s drop. He fell behind in counts, never found a rhythm, and elevated pitches under pressure.
Williams surrendered three runs, two earned, in four innings, and lefthander Antonio Bastardo allowed a run on three hits and two walks in 1⅓ innings. Right-hander Dovydas Neverauskas, the first born-and-raised Lithuanian to debut in the majors, gave up one run in two innings.
The pitching was poor, and the defense atrocious. The Pirates have committed seven errors in the past four games. Their depth in right field took a hit Monday when super-utility player Adam Frazier was placed on the 10-day disabled list because of a left hamstring strain.
The Pirates offense flickered infrequently, powered primarily by Osuna, who had three of their seven hits. The first run, however, occurred on Freese’s single off left-hander Brett Anderson in the first.