Pirates fall short of Cubs 5-3

Yeah, that whole “You Had Two Outs” thing. We’ve already talked about it here and here and even gave thorough analysis on the “Talk The Plank” podcast. No one’s happy about it except Chicago Cubs fans (their announcers were positively gleeful). To quote Derek Shelton, “our guys gotta know the rule, the bag hasn’t moved in 140 years.”

It’s over, it’s done, and that wasn’t the only mistake the Pirates made in their 5-3 loss to the Cubs this afternoon at PNC Park, so we’ve got other things to talk about.

The Cubs got started early when Kris Bryant popped one off Tyler Anderson and into the Pirates hedge in the top of the first. The YH2O thing happened in the top of the third, with Ian Happ bringing Javier Baez, who should have been the third out, home to make it 3-0.

To those who appreciate gallows humor, the top of the fourth inning brought it. Anderson banged a ball off Patrick Wisdom’s bat. The sound of leather hitting wood was pretty clear, but home plate umpire Ryan Additon ruled that Wisdom had been hit by the pitch. Shelty challenged the call and won. Wisdom then proceeded to whack only the fifth homer of his career. I’m pretty sure Shelty was laughing to keep from crying.

But hope stirred in the bottom of the fourth when Bryan Reynolds and Gregory Polanco hit back-to-back dingers, although there was a large dose of “the game would be tied now if not for the YH2O thing” covering social media. It stirred a little more when Michael Perez homered in the bottom of the seventh. In the bottom of the eighth, pinch hitter Wilmer Difo walked. Adam Frazier singled, but as he’s been prone to do of late he got caught trying to get to second and got called out. Difo went to third, though. After Ben Gamel flied out, Reynolds got legitimately hit by a pitch, then Polanco walked. Hope was wriggling like an excited puppy by now. Wouldn’t it be super-rich irony if, after one of the most boneheaded plays in MLB history, the Pirates won this game?

It would indeed, but these are the Pirates. Erik Gonzalez ground one to Baez, who tossed to Eric Sogard to get the third out. To add insult to injury, Sogard would score in the ninth to increase the Cubs’ lead to 5-3 because Kevin Newman kind of threw somewhere he shouldn’t have (no error, though). In more rich irony, Baez made a throwing error that got Will Craig on base in the bottom of the ninth, but strikeouts by Perez and Newman and a Difo groundout ended the game.

At least the calliope’s stopped playing. I think.