Cubs' pen holds strong after bats come through with late rally

CHICAGO -- The Cubs did what they could to hold their ground against Pirates ace Paul Skenes and then felt the tide shift after the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner was out of the game on Saturday afternoon.

The North Siders scored two runs in the eighth inning -- with the help of a wild showing from Pirates reliever Gregory Soto -- to claim a 4-3 victory at Wrigley Field. The Cubs’ embattled bullpen covered the final 10 outs to seal the win.

“We had a lot of good at-bats. We saw pitches and we made them work,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Nobody tried to be the hero. They just tried to win the pitch. That’s good offense.”

In the eighth, rookie Pedro Ramírez led off with a double against Soto, who retired the next two batters before experiencing a lapse in command. Soto hit two batters with a pitch and issued a pair of walks, forcing in two runs to give Chicago the lead.

With the win, the Cubs moved a half-game ahead of the Phillies for the NL’s top Wild Card spot, pending the outcome of Philadelphia’s night game with the Braves. If even in the standings, the Cubs boast the tiebreaker over the Phillies, having won the season series between the clubs.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game:

1. Holmes cruises until sixth
For five innings against the Pirates, Clay Holmes was on top of his game on Saturday afternoon. The veteran sinkerballer was generating groundouts (seven in that stretch) and racking up strikeouts (six) to keep Pittsburgh off the scoreboard.

The Pirates finally broke through in the sixth, when Brandon Lowe led off with a single and Bryan Reynolds followed by reaching via a fielding error by Cubs shortstop Nico Hoerner. That blunder created a window of opportunity for Pittsburgh, which capitalized on the moment.

Holmes created a flyout off the bat of Konnor Griffin, but then Ryan O’Hearn hammered a 2-0 cutter that the Cubs starter left up and in. The three-run blast put Chicago behind, 3-2, and Holmes labored the rest of the way. The righty allowed three of the next four batters to reach (two by way of a walk) before Counsell turned to the bullpen.

“I just made one bad pitch there in the sixth inning,” Holmes said. “That’s a pitch I probably wish I could have back -- just knowing the score of the game, just my strengths, what I’m able to do. I feel like it was one bad pitch that I didn’t really execute there, but I thought we did a lot of good.”

Overall, Holmes tied a career best with 16 whiffs in his 100-pitch performance, but he was on the hook for three runs (two earned) across the 5 2/3 innings.

2. Webb’s bounceback outing
Counsell noted recently that he would look for a chance to lean on Jacob Webb outside of a save situation, given his recent struggles. The manager found a crucial moment to hand the ball to the righty on Saturday.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Webb jogged in from the bullpen with Pirates star Oneil Cruz looming. Two pitches later, Cruz grounded out against the veteran reliever to keep Chicago’s deficit to one run. Webb then returned to the mound in the seventh and worked one more scoreless frame.

“To be honest,” Counsell said, “it wasn’t the ideal situation I wanted to put him in for his next appearance. … I’m really happy for Jacob. He pitched great -- earned it today.”

It had to be a confidence-boosting performance for Webb, whose performance in the middle of the summer (including 24 straight scoreless outings) helped him earn the closer’s role. Entering Saturday, though, the right-hander had given up nine runs in his previous six appearances, in which he yielded three homers, blew three saves and picked up two losses.

“What Webby did today was huge,” Holmes said. “That was probably the game there. That gave us the chance to come back and win.”

Following Webb, lefty Ryan Rolison (1 2/3 innings) and Ryan Zeferjahn (one-third) handled the rest to send the Cubs to the win column.

“The bullpen held it down,” Webb said. “That’s what we need to be doing every time. I know it doesn’t work like that, but I think we have a really good bullpen down there, and the guys are going to keep putting up zeros.”

3. Two shots off Skenes
Skenes headed into Saturday’s outing having never surrendered a run in his career at Wrigley Field. It is a limited sample -– only three previous outings and 16 total innings –- but the righty had been dominant in those games on the North Side.

That scoreless run came to an end in the first inning on Saturday, when Michael Busch connected with a 1-0 fastball from Skenes for a two-out, solo homer to the bleachers in left-center field. Ramírez followed suit with a leadoff blast off a 94.8 mph four-seamer from Skenes in the third. Entering the day, Skenes threw over 1,000 four-seamers this year and just 15 registered under 95 mph.

Those two solo homers represented the extent of the damage done against Skenes, who went seven innings and scattered four hits. The big righty struck out four and allowed one walk, but escaped the few jams he encountered.