Cubs' 'season of extremes' continues despite Brown's quality start

PITTSBURGH -- A national holiday, a change of venue and a strong start by Ben Brown could not change the Cubs’ fortunes on Monday afternoon.

Light-hitting Henry Davis’ home run in the seventh inning lifted the Pirates to a 2-1 victory and sent the Cubs to their ninth straight loss in a Memorial Day matinee at PNC Park.

Monday also marked the start of a seven-game road trip that includes four games against the Pirates and three games vs. the Cardinals.

Davis’ fourth homer of the season came off Trent Thornton, who had retired the first two batters in the seventh, and snapped a 1-1 tie. Davis entered the day with a .139 batting average.

Brown was outstanding, allowing one run on four hits and two walks in a season-high six innings, while striking out seven. His ERA is 1.89 in four starts since being moved from the bullpen to the injury-riddled rotation.

“It was another really positive start by Ben,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He pitched great. I thought his stuff was great. He continues to mix in more pitches. Continues to be really good with off-speed. His breaking ball was really good. He gave us what we needed.”

Brown also credited his success to using a four-pitch mix. Though he wound up with a no-decision and the Cubs took another loss, Brown says he and his teammates remain positive.

“The guys are working hard, but we’re just not winning baseball games,” Brown said. “That doesn’t take away from how talented this group is and the characters in the room that are just pushing each other. We all love each other. It’s just the reality of baseball that it can be tough sometimes.”

Michael Busch hit a solo home run to center field with two outs in the fifth inning off Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski to pull the Cubs into a 1-1 tie. All six of Busch’s homers have come since April 21 after he led the team with 34 long balls last season.

“It’s been a pretty challenging stretch, and it’s hard to see the bright spots right now,” Busch said.

What makes the losing skid difficult to understand is that the Cubs have also had two 10-game winning streaks in a season that is just one-third over.

“It’s been a season of extremes,” Busch said. “It’s kind of hard to wrap your head around it.”

On the offensive side, rookie Moisés Ballesteros reached base three times with two hits and a walk. Alex Bregman also had two hits. The Cubs loaded the bases in the second inning, but Dansby Swanson took a called third strike to end the threat.

“We’ve got to create scoring opportunities,” Counsell said. “We didn’t create any scoring opportunities, certainly none to get a [big] inning started. We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to pitch better. We’ve got to play better.

“We’re equipped to be way more consistent than this and play way better than this.”