CHICAGO– Edward Olivares and Nick Gonzales were honored, and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-4 on Thursday night.
Olivares hit a two-run homer in the first inning. He also doubled and scored in the sixth against Justin Steele (0-1) to make it 5-3.
Gonzales hit a solo shot in the fourth, and Jared Jones (3-4) struck out seven in six solid innings. Colin Holderman gave up a sacrifice fly to Christopher Morel in the eighth, but the Pirates opened the four-game series on a winning note after losing six of eight. They lost two of three to the Cubs in Pittsburgh over the weekend.
Jones was charged with three runs and seven hits. The 22-year-old right-hander has thrown at least five innings and allowed three runs or fewer in each of his nine career starts. This was his fifth game without a walk, and he never faced a three-ball count with his slider keeping the Cubs off balance.
“Just going back to the drawing board, watching the video, seeing what I’ve been doing in previous outings, where it was really good,” he said. “I’m sure I’m doing that in the game every day.”
Aroldis Chapman worked seventh. Holderman hit Seiya Suzuki in the left arm with the first pitch of the eighth and catcher Yasmani Grandal threw wildly to first after hitting Cody Bellinger’s roller, putting runners on second and third. Morel then cut it to 5-4 with a sacrifice fly before Ian Happ was run out. Michael Busch walked, but after a visit from pitching coach Oscar Marin, Holderman retired Nick Madrigal on a ground ball to second baseman Alika Williams.
“The first pitch to Seiya got away from him and then we threw it inside the line, but he was able to build it,” said coach Derek Shelton. “Oscar had a really good visit with him and kind of calmed him down, and then Alika with an unbelievable play. A short-hand, backhand, runners on first and second play in that environment was really important for us. It was a really cool piece.”
David Bednar entered at ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances.
The fallen Happ hit a solo home run for Chicago in the second after sitting out the previous two games.
Steele, coming off a shaky outing in the Cubs’ 10-9 loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday, gave up five runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander struck out seven and walked one in his third start after straining his left hamstring.
“In general, we didn’t play good defense tonight,” coach Craig Counsell said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: 2B Nico Hoerner (hamstring soreness) was out of the lineup for the third straight game. He went through a more normal pregame routine after doing nothing the day before, and Counsell hoped to have him back on Friday.
NEXT
Prized RHP Paul Skenes (0-0, 6.75 ERA) makes his second start for Pittsburgh after a promising – and uneven – major league debut against the Cubs on Saturday. Skenes struck out seven in four-plus innings, and the Pirates won 10-9. RHP Kyle Hendricks (0-3, 10.04 ERA) starts for Chicago. ___
APMLB:
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