Bases Loaded/RISP Woes Rear Their Ugly Head; Cubs Take 2-0 Victory

Steven Brault spun a clean first with a pair of K. K-Man singled to start it off against Jon Lester. After a line out, Starling singled and J-Bell walked to juice the bags. Then Melky lined out and Redbeard flew out to center. Lots of contact but no luck. A walk, DP and flyout finished the Cubs second. Eli singled to open, but Erik Gonzalez returned the favor by hitting into a DP started nicely by Addison Russell, then Steven’s gapper was corralled, with Jason Heyward laying out for a diving catch. It was a clean third against Chi Town as Brault notched his fourth whiff and 1-2-3 for Pittsburgh. Steven bopped a batter to provide the Cubbies only runner in the fourth. There was nada from the Bucs. Russell’s infield single was all the Bruin’s action in the fifth. Two walks and an error against the bottom of the order packed the sacks with no outs. K-Man’s short liner to a well positioned Nick Castellanos in right froze the runners, B-Rey K’ed in a pretty undisciplined at bat and Starling hit a can-of-corn to center; they’re now 0-for-5 w/the bases full.

It didn’t bother Steven, who didn’t allow a ball out of the infield in the sixth. J-Bell walked, the fourth Pirates leadoff man to reach, and another Cub boot allowed Melky a free base. Redbeard took his turn at hitting into a DP before Eli fanned; there is very little patience at all in the batters box today despite four walks. Kris Bryant took the first pitch of the seventh over the fence in left, about three rows deep over the 379′ mark. Fraze got it going with an opp field two-bagger and Pablo walked, bringing on Tyler Chatwood. K-Man fouled off a bunt and then sat down after looking at two more strikes. B-Rey slammed a bullet to left; Ian Happ snagged it with a diving grab. Starling was plunked to load the bases and then J-Bell bounced out, natch. Michael Feliz was called in for the eighth. He gave up back-to-back raps to put Cubs at first and third; Eli’s misfired attempt at a pickoff gave Chicago a second run. There was nary a peep from the Bucs to answer. Frankie Liriano got the ninth and walked Bryant, then Anthony Rizzo was HBP. A DP and K cleaned that up. Fraze walked on four pitches and Rowan Wick took the ball. Three grounders ended it quietly.

Five times, the Pirates leadoff batter reached and six times, they batted with the bases loaded and still managed to get shutout by going 0-for-12 w/RISP. We can’t remember a team, even the John Russell editions, that were less in sync with the offense and pitching. Pitch well and get no support; hit it around and get no pitching. That’s been the story of the season.

Notes:

• Pittsburgh had just four hits, but three guys reached base twice – Fraze and Eli with a knock and a walk and J-Bell, who drew two free passes.
• There were 28,359 announced as the crowd on another lovely afternoon.
• The Pirates woes with the bases loaded have been a season long struggle; they’re batting .209 with the sacks packed.
• As pointed out by Joe Block, Starling has played every inning of the past 50 games. It highlights two points: Marte is a glue man in the lineup both in the order & on the field, and the Pirates have no true center field back up to give him a blow.