Pirates' rookie pitchers falter as margin for error shrinks in NL Wild Card race

CHICAGO -- As Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland used to say, momentum is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. Looking for their fifth straight win, the Pirates relied on three rookie pitchers to piece the puzzle together.

It’s safe to say the rookies looked like rookies. Friday was supposed to be Braxton Ashcraft’s start day before he hit the 15-day injured list with right arm discomfort. Instead, Wilber Dotel, Khristian Curtis and Antwone Kelly combined to allow 12 runs in eight innings while striking out just two batters. The Pirates’ pitching woes led to a 12-2 loss to the Cubs.

The loss also drops the Pirates to five games back in the National League Wild Card race, pending the outcome of San Diego's and Arizona's games late Friday night.

“Anytime you lose a guy like Braxton, it makes it tough, and especially with what he's meant to us throughout the season,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Tough game today, but a learning experience for these guys to go through it -- the energy, the magnitude of the game, everything -- and something they're going to learn from.”

In Ashcraft’s place, Dotel opened a bullpen game and breezed through the first inning. In the second, he loaded the bases with no outs and Chicago put three runs across to take a two-run lead. The Cubs offense leads baseball in runs, OPS and home runs.

Taking down the veteran-filled lineup is no easy task. Especially for a group of inexperienced pitchers.

“Tough day,” Dotel said through translator Stephen Morales. "Good team, good lineup. A rough day for the whole team today, but all we can do is just go out there and be competitive and do our best.”

On the other side, Shota Imanaga is the Pirates' kryptonite. The Cubs' left-hander entered the game with a 3-0 career record and an ERA of 0.24 with 36 strikeouts in six starts against Pittsburgh. But rookie Konnor Griffin was unfazed.

The 20-year-old hammered a triple to right-center field, and scored one pitch later on Oneil Cruz’s single to take an early 1-0 lead. While one run would’ve been enough in three of the Pirates' last six games, they needed to put plenty more runs on the board at Wrigley to come close to a victory. Mixed with a Bryan Reynolds solo shot in the sixth, that was all the Pirates mustered offensively.

When Curtis entered for the bulk role starting in the third, he didn’t have too much success either. Michael Busch drove in Seiya Suzuki on a double into the right-center gap and Nico Hoerner scored Busch on a fielder’s choice.

The Pirates' plans unraveled in the bottom of the fourth. Already leading by four, the Cubs unleashed for four more runs, including a two-run homer by Alex Bregman. Curtis had pitched 11 innings with just two runs allowed to open his career. Against Chicago, he allowed six runs in three innings as Pittsburgh fell behind 9-1. He finished his outing with a seven-pitch, 1-2-3 fifth inning, saying he felt he was capable of producing like that in the first two frames.

“Sped myself up. Wasn't myself out there today,” Curtis said. “I just got to get better, get ready for next week, next outing I get, and just take that opportunity and do what I know I can do with it.”

Antwone Kelly entered and, like his predecessors, was beat around by the experienced Cubs.

Kelly gave up three straight hits to start the frame and two runs scored, pushing the lead to nine. A Pete Crow-Armstrong RBI single in the seventh ballooned Chicago’s advantage to 10, and Kelly sat down the Cubs in the eighth with the damage very much done.

Surging through the first leg of the Chicago road trip and needing every win they can get to keep their postseason dreams alive, the Pirates surely didn’t want to use a combination of three rookies on the mound. But after losing its All-Star in Ashcraft, Pittsburgh went with what they had and dealt with the consequences.

“Tough day and a good learning experience coming into this environment in a big game,” Don Kelly said. “It's easy to talk about the mindset of going 1-0 when you're winning. After a tough loss, we got to take the same mindset going into tomorrow.”