CHICAGO -- With the wind whipping out of Wrigley Field toward Lake Michigan early Friday afternoon, it was bound to be a good day to hit at the Friendly Confines.

It was an especially good day to hit for the Cubs, which meant it was a particularly bad day to be a Pirates pitcher. The Bucs gave up 16 hits, including five home runs, and walked 10 batters as they were pounded by the Cubs in a 17-8 defeat.

• Box score

Friday was the 27th time in 148 games this season the Pirates allowed double-digit runs in a game and the second time they surrendered at least 17 runs. After five innings, the Cubs had more runs (17) and hits (16) than outs (15), and they’d put up at least five runs in three different innings.

“We were trying not to make mistakes, trying not to give up stuff, then we ended up with way too many walks, way too many pitches, way too many offensive counts for them,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “They’re a club that feeds on the long ball. They’re built offensively. But you can’t just continue to pitch behind in counts at this level on a day when the wind’s blowing out. We got what we deserved today.”

Most of the damage was done against left-hander Steven Brault, the first starter in the modern era to allow 10 earned runs and five homers in less than three innings of work. Brault surrendered as many home runs in 2 2/3 innings on Friday afternoon as he did in his previous 84 innings spanning 16 appearances dating back to May 18.

The lefty took the mound in the first inning with a four-run advantage thanks to the Cubs’ defensive mistakes and key hits by Pablo Reyes and Adam Frazier. The lead disappeared almost immediately. Three of the Cubs’ first six hitters went deep against Brault as Chicago stormed back to take a 5-4 lead.

“Every mistake I made today was a home run,” Brault said. “That doesn’t happen very often. It was just their day.”

Nicholas Castellanos, Willson Contreras and rookie Nico Hoerner homered against Brault in the first, but the lefty bounced back with a clean second inning. Then Contreras led off the third by clubbing a 455-foot shot to center field. A single and two walks -- including a four-pitch free pass to opposing starter Jon Lester -- loaded the bases for Anthony Rizzo, who lined a 2-1 slider from Brault out to right field for the Cubs’ 10th grand slam of the season, ending Brault’s day far earlier than he’d hoped.

“It’s one of those that you learn from a little bit, but mostly you just learn post -- how are you able to bounce back, how are you able to come back after this -- because it happens to everybody,” Brault said. “It’s never fun, and it doesn’t make it feel any better. But it does happen.”

Brault became the third starter in Pirates history -- and the second this year -- to allow five homers in one game; Chris Archer allowed five in Atlanta on June 11. Brault also is Pittsburgh’s eighth starter ever to allow 10 earned runs in three innings or less, a regrettable feat last accomplished by Francisco Liriano on Aug. 9, 2013. The last time a Pirates starter allowed at least 10 earned runs? When Jeff Locke took the mound for a makeup game at Coors Field on June 9, 2016.

It was a surprisingly poor start from arguably the Pirates’ most consistent starting pitcher. Brault entered the day with a 3.12 ERA in 14 starts since rejoining the rotation on May 29. He exited the game with his overall ERA having jumped from 4.13 to 4.89. After his outing, Pittsburgh’s rotation owned a 6.00 ERA during the club’s 21-38 second half.

Brault said his fastball, the driving force behind his recent success, didn’t have the same zip or carry it’s shown in previous starts.

“A little bit off in general. But you can be a little bit off and do well,” Brault said. “This is just one of those days that you’re a little bit off and everything gets taken advantage of.”

The Pirates’ trouble did not end when Brault walked into the dugout, though. The Bucs pulled within three runs in the fifth, once again capitalizing on the Cubs’ defensive miscues, and right-hander Yefry Ramirez was one pitch away from completing a perfect inning.

However, the Cubs challenged a call that Kris Bryant was out at first base and got the ruling overturned. With two outs and Bryant at first, Chicago strung together the following sequence in a seven-run inning: single, hit batter, two-run single, walk, three-run double, RBI single (off new reliever Geoff Hartlieb), single, RBI double and, finally, the third out by Bryant.

“Three ticks of the clock later or whatever, a whole bunch more runs scored. It was just lack of execution,” Hurdle said. “They made us pay for every mistake over the plate. The aggression kind of got stung out of us. I don’t know whether it was the wind, whether it was the crowd, whether it was the environment, but I didn’t think we finished pitches the way we needed to to keep this offense down.”

Bell exits early

First baseman Josh Bell left the game in the fifth inning due to left groin discomfort. Bell pulled up on a forceout at second base and slowly walked off the field. Television cameras spotted him walking toward the clubhouse with head athletic trainer Bryan Housand, and Bell did not return to the game.

After the loss, the Pirates announced that Bell’s status is day to day. If he is unable to play Saturday afternoon, Pittsburgh could be without its No. 3 and 4 hitters in Starling Marte (sprained left wrist) and Bell.