PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates have already battled through a grueling stretch, taking on teams with a .500 or better record in six straight series. Though with the Trade Deadline nearing, a six-game homestand against two of the teams ahead of Pittsburgh in the NL Wild Card race is as pivotal as it gets.
With every game growing in importance, the margins grow in importance too. That’s where the Pirates lost their grip Friday night.
Pittsburgh fell, 3-2, to Chicago in 10 innings to open the series, as a bases-loaded walk became the winning run. In the contest, Henry Davis was out at third and home on two separate baserunning blunders, and a single in the 10th from the Cubs was safe by mere inches.
“Yeah, they can,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said postgame of the plays in the margins deciding the game. “... We just have to play better baseball.”
With two more against Chicago, the top Wild Card team, and three against the Diamondbacks, the third-place Wild Card team, the time is now for Pittsburgh to assert itself. It fell short in its first chance to do so.
Reaching the top of the 10th inning, Kelly decided to intentionally walk Pete Crow-Armstrong while matched up with Yohan Ramírez. Ramírez then walked Seiya Suzuki to make it a two-run game. The Pirates scored a run in the bottom half of the inning, though they still needed one more. That was because of a play at the plate that acted as the go-ahead run in the 10th to make it 2-1.
Ian Happ ran home on a single to Jake Mangum in center field, testing Mangum’s arm. The center fielder came up firing, giving a long hop to make it a bang-bang play. Mangum said he was aiming for either a long hop or no hop, and his toss was perfectly placed for Davis to make a tag.
The usually sure-handed catcher misread the hop, going further up the third base line to snag it instead of meeting it in front of the plate. Happ snuck by on the inside of the foul line.
“It was a perfect throw,” Davis said. “When it came out of his hand, I thought it was further up the line than it was, and made a gut decision to go up. And it was the wrong one.”
Happ’s foot looked to hop over the plate and Kelly decided to use his challenge. The call was upheld, and the Cubs had the late advantage.
The game reached extras with Davis’ unfortunate baserunning limitations. Pittsburgh threatened in the third with a walk by Davis and a single from Mangum, but Davis ran into the third out at third base as Nico Hoerner made a diving stop on Nick Gonzales’ single and threw behind Davis. Davis didn’t identify third base coach Tony Beasley telling him to slow down quickly enough, and he overran the base and paid the price.
Four innings later with the game still tied, Davis attempted to tag up on a fly ball to left field from Gonzales. Happ made a perfect throw to cut down Davis.
“In that moment, I thought that it was the right move to go,” Kelly said. “Took a great throw, right on the money to get him and unfortunately, Happ made a throw and he was out. There’s just some things throughout the game that we need to be better at.”
The one-run loss spoiled another stellar performance by Jared Jones, where he matched Cubs starter Matthew Boyd to create a pitchers' duel. Pittsburgh’s bullpen held the door for three innings while using some of its strongest weapons in Wilber Dotel, Mason Montgomery and Gregory Soto, but it wasn’t enough to win as it left eight runners on base.
Baseball is a game of margins. As playoff races tighten and the schedule rolls closer to October, margins become what decides winners and losers. On Friday, the Pirates found themselves on the wrong side of those tight plays.
“Every game in this league is tough. This league will eat you alive if you get too emotional night in and night out,” Mangum said.
“It's a game we should have won. Unfortunately, we didn't,” Davis added.