Cubs hit home stretch aiming to secure NL's top Wild Card spot

CHICAGO – If a baseball season is a marathon, as the old adage goes, then the Cubs have roughly two miles to go until the finish line. The time has come to see how much is left in the collective tank, because there is still time for Chicago to shore up its place in the October picture.

The Cubs already had a series win in hand on Sunday, but they dropped the finale of a three-game set against the Pirates, 4-3, at Wrigley Field. Now the North Siders have a dozen games left on the regular-season slate with the goal of finishing with the National League’s top Wild Card spot in order to secure home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

As things stand, the Cubs and Phillies are tied in record (83-67), but Chicago boasts the tiebreaker over Philadelphia by finishing 6-1 in the season series. The Cubs also hold a tiebreaker over the Padres (5-1) and D-backs (4-2), who are chasing the North Siders and the Phillies in the Wild Card standings.

In Sunday’s loss, Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd went 5 1/3 innings, in which he was charged with four runs on seven hits. Boyd limited the Pirates to one run through the first five frames, but then was on the hook for three runs before his exit in the sixth. Two runs came via Brandon Lowe, who delivered a pinch-hit, go-ahead single off Cubs reliever Aaron Civale after Boyd’s exit.

The Cubs managed three runs against Pirates starter Bubba Chandler, who issued four walks and allowed five hits in his 5 1/3 innings. Chicago catcher Miguel Amaya delivered a two-run homer off Chandler in the fifth and the Cubs scratched across another run in the sixth, courtesy of a bases-loaded groundout from Nico Hoerner.