Dansby Swanson's sacrifice fly in 8th helps Cubs beat Pirates, win 3-game series

With veteran left-hander Andrew Heaney moving to the bullpen and the starting rotation in flux, the Pittsburgh Pirates gave Carmen Mlodzinski a look with his first start since mid-May.

Where the right-hander responded by holding the Chicago Cubs to one hit over four innings, Heaney’s debut in relief proved disastrous as the Pirates bullpen blew another lead.

Although Mlodzinski allowed one unearned run, the strategy backfired when Pirates relievers failed to protect an early lead and a late tie by giving up three runs over four innings.

Dansby Swanson’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth inning helped the Cubs beat the Pirates, 4-3, and win the three-game series Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

“He threw the ball really well, going four innings there for us and keeping it a tied game, 1-1, when he came out,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “He gave us a chance to win.”

The Pirates are now 22-27 in one-run games, and they dropped their eighth consecutive road series to an NL Central Division opponent.

Mlodzinski converted from a relief role in spring training and earned a spot in the starting rotation, going 1-4 with a 5.67 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in nine starts before being sent to Triple-A Indianapolis. He returned to the bullpen when recalled and posted a 2.55 ERA and 1.13 WHIP with 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings in 15 appearances.

This marked his first start since May 17, but Mlodzinski credited the adjustments he made over the past three months for his improvement. He moved to the other side of the rubber, added a curveball and shifted his usage to where he threw a dozen changeups, 11 four-seam fastballs, 10 curveballs and eight sliders.

Mlodzinski was efficient in throwing 32 of his 44 pitches for strikes, drawing five whiffs and nine called strikes. His four-seam fastball showed more life, averaging 96.6 mph and touching 97.8.

“I think there’s some confidence any time you can just put up zeroes for your team. More of the confidence is from the adjustments I’ve made in general the past two or three months. I think I get put into the bullpen and I was able to make adjustments to make me a better pitcher in general. So it was good to see that.”

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Pete-Crow Armstrong reached on a fielding error by second baseman Nick Gonzales, advanced to second on a wild pitch by Mlodzinski and scored on Ian Happ’s single to right-center.

The Pirates answered in the third. Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled to center, advanced to second on Ronny Simon’s groundout and scored on a double to center by Spencer Horwitz to tie the score at 1-1. Bryan Reynolds followed with a single to put runners on the corners, but Javier Assad got Tommy Pham to line out to right to end the frame.

The Wrigley wind blowing in saved Mlodzinski’s final pitch from being a home run, as Carson Kelly’s fly to deep center died at the warning track to end the fourth inning. Mlodzinski finished with three strikeouts without a walk and allowed only one hit.

“Just the mentality of going right after guys,” Mlodzinski said. “I can honestly say there’s a few balls I got a little lucky with, with the wind blowing in that might’ve changed the outing a little bit. Ultimately, no walks is going to give me the best chance to be effective and efficient.”

Colin Holderman relieved Mlodzinski in the fifth and gave up a leadoff walk to Happ, who advanced to second on Nico Hoerner’s fielder’s choice. Swanson smacked Holderman’s full-count sweeper off the third-base bag for an RBI double and 2-1 lead, then reached third when Pham fumbled the ball as it bounced off the side wall in left field. Heaney relieved Holderman to get the final out.

The Pirates responded against Cubs righty Ben Brown in the sixth, when Gonzales hit a leadoff single and Jack Suwinski followed by drawing a full-count walk. Joey Bart lined a one-out double to the left-field corner wall, driving in both runners to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. But Bart ran into an out at third on Kiner-Falefa’s grounder to short, preventing the Pirates from taking the lead on Simon’s single.

“We’ve got to hold up there,” Kelly said. “He got a big at-bat, getting the two runs in there. Swanson’s so good. Just knowing where he’s at back there because he’s elite and going to throw to third.”

Heaney’s bullpen debut didn’t go well. Seiya Suzuki drew a full-count walk and reached third on Crow-Armstrong’s single to right. Ronny Simon, a converted infielder, tried to throw Suzuki out at third and allowed Crow-Armstrong to reach second base.

Clinging to a one-run lead with one out and a pair of runners in scoring position, the Pirates turned to righty Chase Shugart. Where the wind kept Kelly from hitting a homer in the fourth, it proved wicked on a pop fly that Simon missed while trying to make a diving catch. Suzuki scored to tie the game at 3-3, and Armstrong reached third.

After striking out Happ, Shugart walked Hoerner to load the bases before getting Swanson to fly out to right to escape the jam and leave the score knotted. In the seventh, Shugart issued a two-out walk to Kyle Tucker but got Suzuki looking at a full-count sinker.

Suwinski started the eighth with a hit that cut through the Wrigley wind at a 108.6-mph exit velocity and got stuck in the ivy of the right-field wall for a ground-rule double. Suwinski advanced on Triolo’s sacrifice and Kiner-Falefa drew a walk to put runners on first and third, but the Cubs brought in lefty Caleb Thielbar and he struck out Simon to prevent the Pirates from taking the lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Isaac Mattson surrendered a leadoff single to Crow-Armstrong but got a couple breaks. The first came when Kelly hit a pop fly to shallow right that Gonzales let drop in front of him, then threw to second to force out Crow-Armstrong. The next came when Happ hit a fly ball that bounced over the right-field wall for a ground-rule double, preventing a run from scoring. Mattson intentionally walked Hoerner to load the bases, only for Swanson to hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Kelly for a 4-3 lead.

“He’s been so good for us, coming in huge situations,” Kelly said, noting that Mattson threw 34 pitches and recorded five outs in a 3-2 win in the series opener. “He’s done a fantastic job for us. Today didn’t work out great, but we trust him and we’re going to keep going to him.”