Pirates snap scoreless streak against Shota Imanaga but Cubs rally for 2 runs in 8th to win

The Pittsburgh Pirates finally cracked the code against Chicago Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga, and rookie right-hander Mike Burrows rose to the moment by getting out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the score even.

But the Cubs came through in the clutch, breaking a tie by scoring two runs in the eighth inning against the Pirates’ bullpen.

This time, the Pirates had no ninth-inning magic.

A day after Jack Suwinski hit the game-winning home run to beat the Cubs, the Pirates stranded runners in each of the final four innings in a 3-1 loss Saturday afternoon before 40,062 at Wrigley Field.

The Pirates snapped a 22-inning scoreless streak against Imanaga, who retired the first 10 batters he faced before Tommy Pham sent a 1-0 splitter 428 feet to clear the left-field bleachers and land on Waveland Avenue for his sixth home run, a solo shot that gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning.

It was the only run Imanaga allowed in seven innings after giving up three hits and two walks while striking out six. Leadoff batter Jared Triolo (2 for 4) was the only Pirates hitter to get multiple hits against the Cubs.

“You see the fastball. It doesn’t show up on the radar gun as high, high velocity, but it plays up,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said of Imanaga on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “When he can pitch off of that and throw his split, location was really good. Then he throws you off big-time when he throws the slider. We had some decent at-bats. Tommy got him, Tri had some good swings. Just not enough.”

The Cubs answered in the bottom of the fourth with the only run they scored against Burrows, who was removed after giving up five hits and two walks with four strikeouts on 68 pitches in five innings.

Kyle Tucker singled to right, advanced to second on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s walk and scored on a single through the middle by Carson Kelly to tie it. With a full count, Burrows threw a changeup on the black in the lower-inside corner that was called a ball against Ian Happ to load the bases.

That brought a mound visit from pitching coach Oscar Marin before Burrows faced Nico Hoerner. With a big crowd and Thunderbirds flying overhead for an air show, there were plenty of distractions.

“It was just a big moment,” Burrows said. “I knew where we were at in the game. It was a 1-1 game, so it was frustrating to not get the call.”

Burrows knew that Hoerner doesn’t chase pitches outside the zone, so he threw a 1-1 slider away and got a pop up to short to exit the jam without any more damage.

“That was a close pitch on the 3-2 for the walk to load the bases,” Kelly said. “To stay in the moment and not — which is easy to do here at Wrigley when you’ve got 40-some thousand screaming, you’ve got airplanes flying over — and for him to stay in the moment and being able to get that next batter out was a really big step.”

Problem was, the Pirates never got the lead back.

Imanaga stranded runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings. Triolo hit a two-out double and Pham walked in the sixth, only for Bryan Reynolds to fly out to end the frame.

Joey Bart drew a full-count walk with two outs in the seventh, then raced to third on Liover Peguero’s single to the left-field corner. But with the fans on their feet, Imanaga got Alexander Canario swinging at a 2-2 splitter at the bottom of the strike zone to escape unscathed again.

Andrew Kittredge kept the Pirates from scoring again in the eighth, when Triolo singled, advanced to second on Pham’s groundout and stole third base. But Reynolds went down swinging to strand Triolo.

Following two scoreless innings by Kyle Nicolas, the Pirates turned to lefty Evan Sisk in the bottom of the eighth for a pair of lefty matchups. But Tucker singled to right, stole second and scored on a single to center Seiya Suzuki to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

After Crow-Armstrong’s sacrifice bunt moved Suzuki to third, Yohan Ramirez relieved Sisk. After striking out Kelly and intentionally walking Ian Happ, Ramirez surrendered an RBI single through short to Hoerner that scored Suzuki for a 3-1 lead.

“We just have to find a way to get the big base hit,” Kelly said. “Something we’ve talked about a lot — and finding ways to stay gap to gap, keep the line moving and come up with that big hit.”