Pirates extend scoreless streak to 24 innings in shutout loss to Cubs for 8th consecutive defeat
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The Pittsburgh Pirates have endured a season of ebbs and flows, following an amazing April with a miserable May and a June that has resembled the best and worst of both months.
Now, they have sunk to a new low.
The Pirates stretched their scoreless streak to 24 innings in losing their eighth consecutive game — both season worsts — in a 4-0 defeat to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night before 20,666 at PNC Park.
“We have to score runs to win,” said Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, who sat out with a sore right elbow. “I’d rather get the win. We get the win, that means we scored the runs. The run, some runs, whatever. We also don’t wanna be down 8-0 and be like, ‘Oh, we scored a run!’ We wanna put ourselves in good position to score runs, stay within ourselves. We’re just not getting timely hitting.”
It marks their longest losing streak since they dropped nine in a row from June 7-14 in the 2022 season. The Pirates (34-38) slipped to fourth place in the NL Central, a half-game behind the Cubs (35-38).
The Pirates were shut out in back-to-back games for the first time this season and were blanked for the third time in a three-game span. They haven’t scored since a two-run home run by Bryan Reynolds in the third inning of Sunday’s 5-2 loss at Milwaukee and haven’t produced a hit with runners in scoring position in four games.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton called it “extremely” frustrating.
“We got a figure out a way to score runs,” Shelton said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to pull ourselves out of this.”
The Pirates played without McCutchen and Reynolds (lower back tightness). They could have used their bats to provide some run support for Johan Oviedo (3-7), who allowed two runs on five hits with three strikeouts in six innings for his third quality start this month.
Even so, Oviedo was disappointed.
“I would like to have pitched zeroes out there so I could (give) my team a better chance to win the ballgame,” Oviedo said. “It’s definitely a tough moment right now for everyone. We gotta keep moving forward and try to win a ballgame.”
The Cubs took a 1-0 lead with one out in the third when Tucker Barnhart smashed Oviedo’s first-pitch fastball 413 feet to straightaway center for his first home run of the season.
In the fourth, Ian Happ hit a liner that bounced on the right field line and ricocheted off the corner wall in foul territory. Right fielder Connor Joe signaled for a book-rule double and the Pirates challenged, but after a video review, it was ruled a triple.
Oviedo then hit Dansby Swanson on the right wrist with a pitch, putting runners on the corners. Cody Bellinger hit a low liner to left that Josh Palacios snagged with a shoestring catch but Happ scored on the sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Nick Madrigal led off the fifth by driving a 1-1 slider Oviedo left over the heart of the plate 385 feet, over the outstretched arm of Palacios and off the left field wall for a double. Madrigal tagged for third on Barnhart’s fly out to deep right, but Oviedo struck out Mike Tauchman and got Nico Hoerner to ground out to end the inning.
Oviedo gave up a leadoff single to Seiya Suzuki in the sixth, but Jack Suwinski made a backhand catch deep in center to rob Happ of another extra-base hit, and Oviedo got Swanson to ground into a 5-4-3 double play on his 101st pitch.
“I thought he was really good,” Shelton said. “He gave us a chance to win. Six innings, two runs against this lineup that’s been good the last 10, 12 days. He gave us a chance to win and I think that’s all you can ask for from your starter. (Osvaldo) Bido did the same thing last night. We’ve just got to figure out what’s going on offensively.”
Cubs starter Marcus Stroman (9-4) tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out five. It was Stroman’s second win over the Pirates in six days, as he allowed two runs in six innings in the Cubs’ 7-2 win on Thursday at Wrigley Field.
“Stroman’s good. That’s why he’s leading the National League in ERA,” Shelton said. “He has the ability to execute pitches. He has the ability to criss-cross with the cutter and the sinker and then throw the split off it. He was better tonight than he was the night in Chicago — and he was good that night in Chicago. We got pitched to tonight. We’ve got to figure out a way to get out of it.”
After throwing 40 pitches through the first three innings, Stroman needed only 18 for the next three. Stroman retired the side on just six pitches in the sixth inning. The Pirates made him work in a 29-pitch seventh, when four of the five batters worked full counts.
With two hits apiece, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Joe had provided all of the Pirates’ offense until Tucupita Marcano drilled a double to right-center with one out in the seventh. Stroman got Joe looking at a called third strike before walking Ji Hwan Bae. Cal Mitchell, recalled Tuesday from Triple-A Indianapolis, pinch-hit for catcher Jason Delay, but Stroman struck him out with a sinker to keep the Pirates scoreless.
The Pirates turned to Dauri Moreta in the eighth, and Tauchman sent his 1-0 changeup 396 feet into the right field seats for his second home run and a 3-0 Cubs lead.
Hoerner followed with a triple to the left-center gap but was called out at home when trying to score on Suzuki’s fly out to left on Palacios’ throw to Austin Hedges. The Cubs challenged home plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s call, arguing that Hoerner slid under the tag. It was overturned, giving Suzuki a sacrifice fly and the Cubs a 4-0 lead.
Mark Leiter Jr. retired the top of the order in a 1-2-3 eighth, and Adbert Alzolay did the same with the heart of the order in the ninth to the clinch the Cubs’ win. The Pirates will attempt to avoid being swept for a third consecutive series by a division foe in Wednesday afternoon’s finale.
“It’s a hard situation. It’s a hard moment for the team,” Pirates first baseman Carlos Santana said. “We have an eight-game (losing) streak, but we’re trying to get better. (Wednesday) is a new day and we’ll try to finish the series strong.”
Source: TribLIVE
