Pirates swept again, lose 11-8 to Cubs

The Pittsburgh Pirates capped off a disastrous road trip to Chicago, losing 11-8 today to the Cubs for a four game sweep after also being swept in an earlier two-game matchup with the White Sox.

The Bucs held a 5-2 and an 8-7 lead at one point, but a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh by Fred Schwindel off of Nick Mears put the game away for Chicago. That was the third grand slam of the game, with the Cubs also getting one from Matt Duffy, who took Wil Crowe yard with bases loaded in the third. Duffy also hit a solo shot off Crowe in the second.

The Pirates, however, got a grand slam from Bryan Reynolds in the top of the third off Zach Davies. Reynolds went 4-for-5 on the day, including a double, three runs scored, and four RBIs.

Yoshi Tsutsugo also went deep again for his seventh home run this year as a Pirate, and Jacob Stallings went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

The Bucs also got a ridiculous catch by Ben Gamel in left field. Which could have been better had Colin Moran not dropped the throw-out attempt into first.

But it all added up to another Bucco defeat, primarily through an ineffective pitching performance. Crowe went just three innings and gave up seven runs, while the bullpen gave the game away and saw seven total men take the mound today.

That’s six losses in a row for the Buccos, and they’ll now head back to PNC for the for the next week and a half, where they’ll attempt to lick their wounds and get back into the win column first against the Detroit Tigers tomorrow.