Bucs lose fifth in a row, fall 4-1 to Cubs

It was a rainy night in Pittsburgh, and the rain also continues to fall on the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, as they lost their fifth straight contest, falling 4-1 to the Chicago Cubs after former Bucs pitcher Trevor Williams of course took it to his old squad by pitching a gem.

Williams went six innings, giving up one run on three hits while striking out seven and walking none. He gave up just a triple in the first to Ben Gamel on a botched play by Joc Pederson through the first five innings, and didn’t surrender anything else until Erik Gonzalez knocked in Kevin Newman with a single in the sixth. Pittsburgh’s struggling offense had just two more hits the rest of the way, and that was that.

The game got off to a rain delay due to some thunderstorms here in the ‘Burgh, and though it was the Bucs who had the first big hit of the night on the Gamel triple, it was the Cubs who got going quickly, with three runs in the bottom of the second off of Pittsburgh starter Wil Crowe, who lasted just one and a third, giving up five hits and walking two in addition to taking the loss on the night to remain winless for the season at 0-3.

Of those hits included a two-run dinger by David Bote, who took a Crowe fastball deep to centerfield that scored a walked Rafael Ortega, and he also gave up a single to pitcher Williams, who advanced Eric Sogard on a fake bunt liner to right field. Sogard would score one batter later on a Kris Bryant single and that was the end for Crowe.

Bryant knocked in Sogard again in the sixth, again with some help from Williams at the plate, though this one came off a fastball from Chris Stratton. Bryant finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs for the Cubbies, while Williams helped his own cause by going 2-for-3. Sogard also had a multi-hit game for Chicago, going 2-for-4.

Gamel was 2-for-4 for Pittsburgh, and Newman went 2-for-3 and those were the only notables, and the Pirates offense continues their drought. Does this change when Ke’Bryan Hayes and Colin Moran come back? Yes, somewhat, but runs are going to continue to be an issue.

As for the mound, the Bucs had a nice night from Duane Underwood Jr., who pitched three and two-thirds of one-hit scoreless relief after Crowe went out, and Chasen Shreve and Clay Holmes combined to strike out three and give up one hit, one walk, and no runs in their two innings total.

The Bucs now fall to 18-30 on the season and will look to avoid a sweep in tomorrow afternoon’s third and final game of the series.