Amid festivities, Pirates fall short of finishing day with a win
PITTSBURGH -- It was a festive Saturday evening at PNC Park -- in most ways.
The Pirates honored their four newest inductees into the team’s Hall of Fame during a pregame ceremony. Following the game was the annual SkyBlast fireworks show, which is traditionally one of the Pirates’ most popular promotions.
The only thing missing for the crowd of 34,782 was a Pirates victory, as the Chicago Cubs built a seven-run lead then held on to defeat Pittsburgh, 10-6.
The Pirates made things interesting with a five-run rally in the seventh inning that cut their deficit to 8-6. However, it was too big of a difference to make up after their hitters couldn’t solve Cubs left-hander Jordan Wicks, who made his Major League debut, and bulk-innings reliever Osvaldo Bido struggled to throw strikes.
The Pirates got to Wicks quickly with Ke’Bryan Hayes hitting Wicks’ second pitch into the left-field bleachers for his second leadoff home run of the season. Then they had runners on first and third with no outs, but Wicks escaped the jam by striking out Connor Joe, Endy Rodríguez and Joshua Palacios in succession.
The three strikeouts began a streak of 15 consecutive batters retired by Wicks until he was lifted after the fifth inning.
“Changeup,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said when asked why Wicks was able to dominate after the first three batters. “I mean, we got early on the fastball, then he went changeup-cutter. The changeup, we knew coming in, was a good pitch. It’s what made him a little bit reversed, but the changeup has a ton of down action to it, and he did a nice job with it.”
Palacios agreed that the Pirates couldn’t solve Wicks’ changeup.
“He was putting it in the right locations, made good pitches, and for a lot of us, it was the first time seeing it,” Palacios said. “So tip your cap and go back, watch some video and try to make some adjustments. He had his stuff tonight.”
Meanwhile, the Pirates’ bullpen struggled after rookie reliever Colin Selby opened with two perfect innings. Bido walked four batters during a three-run third inning in which the Cubs went ahead, 3-1, then Chicago scored five times against Bido and left-hander Ryan Borucki in the fifth to widen their lead.
Bido (2-5) wound up allowing eight runs in 2 1/3 innings. The rookie finished with five walks, as the Pirates lost for the third time in their past four games.
“He just looked like he was over-rotating and kind of rushing the ball against his arm side,” Shelton said. “He just didn’t have the command we’ve seen him have previously.”
The Pirates made a game of it by scoring five runs in the seventh inning to draw within two runs. Liover Peguero hit a sacrifice fly and Alika Williams and Hayes had consecutive RBI singles before Bryan Reynolds capped the rally with a two-run double.
The Cubs then scored two runs off Thomas Hatch in the top of the ninth to extend the lead to four runs.
“They kept going, they kept fighting, but we just came up short,” Shelton said.
A bright spot for the Pirates was Selby’s performance. The right-hander was a starting pitcher during his first two professional seasons but was converted to a reliever at High-A Greensboro after the 2020 Minor League season was canceled because of the COVID pandemic.
“It was a little different, yeah,” Selby said of opening. “Just trying to keep the team in the game early and get outs efficiently. Just try and go as long as they would allow me. Whatever they need me to do, I’m going to do.”