Bucs blow 7-run lead as Cubs complete sweep

Oneil Cruz played his first game in center field in the 14-10 loss.

The Pittsburgh Pirates hit a new low — one they are hoping is rock bottom — by blowing a seven-run lead over the final three innings against the Chicago Cubs.

Their decision to make a late-August position switch by moving Oneil Cruz to center field backfired when Christian Bethancourt hit a bases-loaded single that glanced off the glove of shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa for the go-ahead run.

Two-time All-Star closer David Bednar’s struggles continued, as he gave up five runs in the ninth inning of a 14-10 loss to the Cubs on Wednesday afternoon before 12,660 at PNC Park.

It was one of the most deflating losses of the season for the Pirates (62-71), who endured a 10-game losing streak and have dropped 18 of their past 25 games since the July 30 trade deadline.

“It’s frustrating. It’s about as frustrated as I’ve been,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We’ve got to execute. You cannot have a 10-3 game in the seventh inning and give up 11 runs. We’ve got to be better.”

The Cubs (68-66) finished with 41 runs on 44 hits in the three-game series, which marked the fourth time the Pirates have been swept this month and the seventh time this season.

“I don’t know about the last three, but today, it’s right up there,” Shelton said. “I don’t know if I’ve been as (ticked) as I am right now.”

What’s worse, the Pirates wasted another solid start by rookie righthander Paul Skenes, who allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk with six strikeouts over five innings.

This time, however, it wasn’t because of a lack of run support. The Pirates scored in the double digits for the seventh time this season, tying a season high with 16 hits. Bryan Reynolds and Connor Joe both hit solo home runs and joined Rowdy Tellez with three hits apiece, as five Pirates had multiple hits.

The Cubs matched their hit total, thanks to monster games by their Nos. 8 and 9 hitters. Pete Crow-Armstrong went 4 for 4 and scored four runs, and Bethancourt went 3 for 5 with a career-best seven RBIs. That tied his RBI total in 38 games with the Miami Marlins.

Cruz has dominated headlines this week since the Pirates announced Monday afternoon that he would switch from shortstop to center after committing 24 errors, including 12 since July 21. Despite being disappointed by the decision, Cruz spent the past two days practicing in the outfield while serving as designated hitter.

The Pirates saw enough to start him in center in the finale against the Cubs. Possessing one of baseball’s best arms, Cruz was charged with a questionable throwing error on a play at the plate but otherwise fared well in his first time in the outfield since playing one inning in left field in his rookie season in 2022.

“I felt good,” Cruz said through translator Stephen Morales. “Not like playing shortstop, but I felt pretty good.”

The Cubs came out aggressive against Skenes, as Ian Happ hit a leadoff double to left-center and scored on Cody Bellinger’s single to right for 1-0 lead in the first inning. Reynolds answered by sending Kyle Hendricks’ 1-2 sinker inside 429 feet to right-center for his 21st homer of the season to tie the score.

In the second inning, Nico Hoerner singled to left, then stole second and scored on Crow-Armstrong’s line drive to center. Cruz committed the error when he fired a one-hop throw to home plate that bounced past catcher Yasmani Grandal. Skenes didn’t back up the throw, which allowed Hoerner to score and Crow-Armstrong to advance to third, from where he scored on Bethancourt’s groundout to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.

“Skenes should’ve been back there,” Shelton said. “It’s one of those things, not having looked at the replay of the hop, we’ve probably got to give him a longer hop. But, like we talked about with Oneil, there’s going to be growing pains in terms of learning how to use that.”

The Pirates responded by batting through the order and tying a season high with six hits in a five-run second inning that included three doubles and knocked Hendricks out of the game at 1 2/3 innings.

Grandal drew a leadoff walk, reached third on Jared Triolo’s double off the Clemente Wall and scored on Kiner-Falefa’s groundout. Reynolds drove in Triolo with a game-tying single, Cruz followed with a double and both runners scored when Tellez dropped a pop fly in between third baseman Isaac Paredes and shortstop Dansby Swanson in shallow right. Tellez scored on Billy McKinney’s automatic double to left-center to give the Pirates a 6-3 lead.

After throwing 43 pitches through his first two innings, Skenes started dealing in the third. He stuck out four of the next six batters he faced in tossing three consecutive scoreless innings.

The Pirates padded their lead in the process, scoring two runs in each of the next two innings. Joe hit a leadoff homer to left, and McKinney scored on a sacrifice bunt by Alika Williams to extend their lead to 8-3 in the fourth. Then Reynolds and Cruz scored when Joe singled to left and Happ made an error in the fifth to make it 10-3.

Then the game — and the Pirates’ lead — slowly fell apart.

Kyle Nicolas replaced Skenes for the sixth but struggled in the seventh, giving up a two-run homer to Bethancourt that cut the Pirates’ lead in half. Tellez was checked on by team trainers after a single that hit Cruz on the basepaths in the seventh. How he was replaced in the lineup was indicative of the Pirates’ plans for Cruz to stay in center: They put 2021 AL Gold Glove winner Michael A. Taylor in left field, moved McKinney from left to right and Joe to first base.

The Cubs rallied for three runs against Aroldis Chapman in the eighth. Swanson drew a one-out walk, Crow-Armstrong singled and both scored on Bethancourt’s double to left. Bethancourt stole third, then scored on Happ’s single to left to cut the Pirates’ lead to 10-8.

In the ninth, Bellinger reached on a forceout, Paredes singled and Hoerner drew a walk to load the bases for Swanson, who hit a grand slam in Monday’s 18-8 win and drew a bases-loaded walk in Tuesday’s 9-5 win. This time, Swanson grounded into a forceout at second to score Bellinger and cut it to 10-9 but beat the double-play throw.

“I need to make a big pitch, and I didn’t,” said Bednar (3-7), who allowed five runs on three hits and two walks. “That’s what it comes down to. I got two outs and had the opportunity to finish the game and I didn’t. It just (stinks). It’s incredibly frustrating.”

Bednar intentionally walked Crow-Armstrong to load the bases for Bethancourt, who hit a sharp grounder that Kiner-Falefa couldn’t corral.

“It’s a tough play but, at the same time, I’ve got to find a way to at least keep it in front of me,” Kiner- Falefa said. “He hit it really hard. It’s kind of like a ‘tweener, where it’s a little too far to get in front of and too close to dive. I went for the backhand that I practice every day, and the ball stayed down and I missed it.

“It’s tough, very tough. No other way to put it, really. Just gut-wrenching. Not the way you want to lose games.”

The loss left the Pirates in a sour mood as they packed for a six-game road trip starting Friday at the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians followed by another series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Shelton had no intention of washing it off, given that the Pirates are 7-18 this month with nine one-run losses after going 14-12 in June and 15-10 in July. The bullpen has blown multiple leads, and Shelton said it was “too fresh” to say whether he’s lost faith in Bednar as the closer.

Shelton blamed the Pirates for their lack of execution.

“My concern level is that we’ve got to finish games,” Shelton said. “Look at the games we’ve lost in August. It’s because we have not finished games. How many of these games have we had the lead? How many of these games have we been one strike away, one pitch away? We’ve got to figure out how to finish games.”

That’s something the Pirates did when they were 55-52 and in second place in the NL Central on July 30, only to drop out into last place in the division and out of wild-card contention.

“This series was tough,” Kiner- Falefa said. “Those first two games and the way this one went, we’ll see how we respond. Hopefully, we’ll respond the right way. We’ve just got to look in the mirror and figure it out. We just need to play better baseball. That’s what it comes down to: We need to play better baseball.”