Pirates rebound from embarrassing loss to defeat Cubs

[April 25, 2022]  Kevin Newman had two hits, including an RBI double, and David Bednar struck out Frank Schwindel with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to lead the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday afternoon.

Ke'Bryan Hayes also had an RBI double for Pittsburgh, which bounced back from a 21-0 loss on Saturday afternoon, the most lopsided loss in franchise history, to win the series with its third win in four games.

Dillon Peters (3-0) allowed one hit over 2 2/3 inning of relief to pick up the win. Bednar, despite allowing back-to-back doubles with one out in the ninth, bounced back to garner his second save of the season.

Ian Happ homered, Rafeal Ortega doubled twice and Schwindel went 2-for-5 with an RBI to lead Chicago, which lost for the fifth time in six games. The Cubs, who had 23 hits in the largest shutout win in franchise history on Saturday, finished with 10 hits.

Justin Steele (1-2) took the loss, allowing three runs on four hits over three innings. He walked four and struck out two.

Chicago took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Ortega led off with a double to right and scored one out later when Hayes misplayed Willson Contreras' high-hop grounder for an error. After Happ walked, Schwindel singled down the right field line to drive in Contreras.

Pittsburgh cut it to 2-1 in the second on a two-out RBI single by Ben Gamel, driving in Yoshi Tsutsugo who had singled.

Apr 24, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Ben Gamel (18) steals second base against Chicago Cubs third baseman Patrick Wisdom (16) during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The Pirates took a 3-2 lead in the third on a sacrifice fly by Tsutsugo, driving in Bryan Reynolds, who had led off with a walk and advanced to third on a double by Hayes. Newman then drove in Hayes with a double to center.

Pittsburgh extended its lead to 4-2 in the fourth with an unearned run. Diego Castillo singled with one out, stole second and scored one out later when Jonathan Villar threw wildly to first on Hayes' routine grounder for his fourth error of the season.

Chicago cut it to 4-3 in the eighth on Happ's first homer of the season, a 393-foot opposite field drive to left-center off reliever Heath Hembree.

The Cubs had a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth. Ortega doubled off the wall down the right-field line with one out and then advanced to third on a bloop double to shallow right by Seiya Suzuki. Contreras then struck out and Happ was then walked intentionally to load the bases. Schwindel then struck out on three straight fastballs to end the game.

--Field Level Media

[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.