CHICAGO -- The Pirates saw a rare scoring opportunity against Jake Arrieta go to waste on an unusual rundown in the fifth inning Monday night at Wrigley Field in a game the Cubs rallied to win, 8-7, in 13 innings.
Starling Marte slapped a leadoff single to right field off Arrieta then stole second base, his 45th steal of the season. Cubs catcher Willson Contreras' errant throw sailed into center field, allowing Marte to scramble all the way to third.
Arrieta struck out David Freese, bringing up Francisco Cervelli with one out and Marte still at third base. The Cubs were leading, 3-1, but the Pirates were 90 feet from a one-run game.
Cervelli tapped an 0-2 fastball back to Arrieta, who caught Marte off the bag and fired to third baseman Kris Bryant. Marte ran toward home but was forced back to third by Contreras.
Contreras threw the ball to shortstop Javier Báez, covering third base, but Baez dropped it as he attempted to tag Marte. The Pirates' speedy left fielder made one last break for home plate, but Baez recovered and threw to Arrieta, who tagged out Marte.
Pittsburgh challenged the call on the field, objecting that Arrieta blocked the plate in violation of Rule 7.13 regarding home-plate collisions. But the call was confirmed after a replay review. In the end, the out was scored 1-5-2-6-1.
"That's not very typical," Arrieta said.
Cervelli advanced to second amid the confusion, but four pitches later, the inning was over.