CHICAGO (AP) — With almost no margin for error, the Cubs can’t afford to lose many games in September if they’re to complete a remarkable run to the 2024 postseason.
That’s what made Monday night at Wrigley Field so galling.
The surging Cubs seemingly had their seventh consecutive win in hand during a series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Starter Jameson Taillon had completed seven sparkling innings of three-hit, shutout baseball, and Chicago’s offense had done enough to build a 3-0 lead with the Friendly Confines starting to take on a bit of a postseason feel.
Then it came apart.
Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen homered off reliever Jorge López during Pittsburgh’s four-run eighth, and the Pirates stunned the Cubs with a 5-3 victory to snap Chicago’s six-game winning streak.
These types of losses happen during a 162-game season, but the Cubs can ill afford them now after a scorching 8-1 road trip put them back in the race for the third and final National League Wild Card spot.
The Cubs have still won 12 of their last 16 going into Tuesday night’s game, so Monday’s defeat could just be a temporary setback if they can remain hot. But it could also prove fatal to the Cubs’ razor-thin chances to reach the playoffs for the first time in a non-COVID-shortened season since 2018.
Chicago dropped to 71-67 on the season and didn’t get any help from other teams, either. The New York Mets beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1, pushing the Mets three full games ahead of the Cubs in the NL Wild Card standings entering Tuesday.
The Atlanta Braves, who were idle Monday, currently hold down the third and final NL Wild Card position, a half-game ahead of the Mets and 3.5 ahead of the Cubs.
Making things more daunting, the Cubs lost their season series with the Braves and the Mets, and thus the tiebreaker with each, so you can essentially add another game to Chicago’s deficit with both teams.
The Cubs’ postseason chances, according to FanGraphs’ MLB Playoffs Odds, were still pretty slim, even after the 8-1 road trip. Their odds remained under 10%, but they at least had been increasing little by little.
After Monday’s crushing loss and other games around the league, however, those odds dropped to 3.8%.
The Cubs have feasted on a soft spot in their schedule in recent weeks. This week’s series is their sixth straight against teams under .500 at the time the series began, and Chicago has won the previous five, including two straight sweeps before Monday.
But the schedule stiffens considerably after the series against the Pirates.
The Cubs host the New York Yankees, who own the AL’s best record, from Friday through Sunday, then they head to the West Coast to play the Los Angeles Dodgers, who own MLB’s best record, from Monday through Wednesday.
Steele scratched
That wasn’t the only bad news Monday for Chicago.
Ace left-hander Justin Steele was slated to start for the Cubs on Tuesday night in the second game of the series, but he was scratched because of elbow soreness.
Instead, veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks (3-10, 6.75 ERA) will take the bump against Pirates rookie phenom Paul Skenes (8-2, 2.23 ERA). First pitch at Wrigley Field is scheduled for 6:40 p.m.
It’s the same pitching matchup as last Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh, when the Cubs rallied from a 10-3 deficit by scoring 11 unanswered runs over the final three innings to complete a three-game sweep of the Pirates.
On Monday night, Pittsburgh turned the tables.
The Pirates began the eighth with three straight hits against López (2-3). Pinch-hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa reached on a bloop single and Nick Gonzales had an infield hit before Reynolds connected for his 22nd homer, tying it at 3-3 with a drive to the bleachers in left-center.
After Oneil Cruz struck out swinging, McCutchen launched his 18th homer to left-center. McCutchen also extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
“They continued to battle, they played hard,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said, “’IKF’ has a ball fall in, Nick beats out an infield hit, and then, you know, Bryan does what Bryan does, and then ‘Cutch’ right behind him.”
McCutchen, now a 37-year-old designated hitter in his second stint with the Pirates, turned on López’s 1-1 inside sinker.
“Bullpen comes in, one little bloop, blast, and you’re back in the game,” McCutchen said. “That’s why no one has answers to reasons why things happen in this game.”
Jalen Beeks (7-4) got two outs for Pittsburgh before the rally to earn the win, and Dennis Santana pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.
Gonzales singled in an insurance run in the ninth, as the Pirates won for just the second time in seven games and avenged the three-game sweep last week.
Dansby Swanson homered for Chicago, and Ian Happ drove in two runs with a triple.
Taillon’s gem wasted
Chicago wasted a terrific start for Taillon, who needed just 89 pitches, 61 of them strikes, to get through seven shutout innings. He walked one and struck out three.
“’Jamo,’ he pitched a wonderful game,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He did a really good job of executing in(side) to both right-handed and left-hander hitters. That got the ball on the ground a lot, a lot of jam shots, and we made some nice defensive plays.”
However, Counsell said going with López for the eighth “was an easy decision.”
“He made a couple of good pitches to the first two hitters and they found some holes, and then he left some fastballs just in the big part of the plate,” Counsell said.
Pirates rookie Jared Jones permitted three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings in his second start after missing nearly two months with a right lat strain.
Swanson’s 13th homer, and third in seven games, followed the two-time Gold Glove shortstop’s four-hit game at Washington on Sunday.
With two runners aboard, Happ tripled down the right-field line with two outs in the fifth to make it 3-0.
The inning was prolonged by rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong’s speed on the bases.
He was on first and Swanson at second when Miguel Amaya hit a bouncer to shortstop. Swanson momentarily screened Pittsburgh’s Alika Williams on the play, and Crow-Armstrong reached second just before Williams’ toss to second baseman Gonzales, preventing an inning-ending double play.