Pirates' offense comes up short again in 2-1 loss to Cubs

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jun 14, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — Like Thursday, the Pirates’ only offense in the first six innings against the Cubs came from Andrew McCutchen in the first.

Also like Thursday, it cost them in yet another one-run loss.

The Cubs beat the Pirates, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Chicago native Ryan Borucki took the loss, allowing the deciding homer to Dansby Swanson in the sixth. He is now 1-3. Cubs starter Matthew Boyd earned the win and improved to 6-3. The Pirates managed five hits against Boyd and three relievers.

McCutchen homered in the first, No. 242 as a Pirate and No. 326 of his major league career. He added a single in the seventh. Those were the first two hits the Pirates had.

Pirates starter Mike Burrows continued his recent success, giving up one run on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out eight. Key to his success was his change-up, which accounted for six of his eight strikeouts.

But the Pirates immediately ran into trouble once he was pulled. Manager Don Kelly brought in lefty Borucki to face Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who ranks fifth in the majors with 18 homers. Borucki got Crow-Armstrong to bounce out, but the next batter, shortstop Swanson, launched a 3-2 slider from Borucki into the left-field bleachers for the deciding homer.

Apart from McCutchen’s homer, the Pirates had no offense against Boyd. Boyd retired 14 batters in a row immediately following the homer before walking Tommy Pham to lead off the sixth. Boyd quickly picked Pham off of first base, then retired the final two batters he faced.

Cubs reliever Daniel Palencia pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season.

It was over when ...

The Pirates had their best opportunity to tie the game in the seventh. Reliever Ryan Pressly came in for Boyd and allowed McCutchen’s leadoff single, but right fielder Bryan Reynolds grounded into a double play. Nick Gonzales and Ke’Bryan Hayes followed with consecutive singles, the first offense by someone other than McCutchen, but Henry Davis struck out looking to end the threat.

On the mound

Reliever Braxton Ashcraft threw the final two innings for the Pirates. He needed just four pitches for three outs in the seventh, then struck out two of the three batters he faced in the eighth.

At the plate

Pham and McCutchen were the only Pirates to reach base twice. Pham walked twice on the day he reached 10 years of major league service time.

Davis’ strikeout in the seventh was the only time the Pirates had a runner in scoring position.

Most valuable player

Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner went 2 for 3 with two singles and scored the first run. It came off Burrows in the third. He led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout, then scored on an Ian Happ sacrifice fly.

Up next

The Pirates and Cubs conclude their four-game series on Sunday afternoon at 2:20 p.m. Mitch Keller (1-9, 4.15 ERA) will pitch for the Pirates against Cubs right-hander Colin Rea (4-2, 3.92).