Home runs sink Pirates, Andrew Heaney in another 1-run loss

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ season continues to teeter on the brink as a result of a poor first two months.

But winning six of nine during their recent homestand, as well as nine of their last 14 games overall, was encouraging, however large the Pirates’ overall hole continues to be.

Looking to maintain some of that modest momentum, the Pirates arrived in Chicago for a four-game series vs. the Cubs at Wrigley Field beginning Thursday night.

Instead, home runs by Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki lifted Chicago to a 3-2 win, as the Pirates played their 28th one-run game of the year, of which they now have lost 15.

Andrew Heaney (3-5, 3.33 ERA) delivered a quality start, allowing three runs over six innings with four hits, seven strikeouts and no walks, taking the loss.

“I thought he did a great job,” manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Kept them off-balance. The pitch to (Crow-Armstrong) was up. He just beat Heaney to a spot there. Suzuki caught a changeup, but I thought (Heaney) did a really good job mixing the ball in and out and pitched really well.”

The Pirates (28-42) couldn’t get much going offensively until the seventh inning, by which time they were down 3-0.

In the seventh, they chased Cubs starter Jameson Taillon from the game and plated a pair in what was their most promising opportunity for runs in the game.

But Oneil Cruz struck out with the bases loaded, ending the frame.

From there, Chicago’s bullpen was sharp in the eighth and ninth, preserving the win.

The Cubs were hitless until the fourth inning, when Kyle Tucker got aboard with a one-out single.

Then, with two outs, Crow-Armstrong crushed his 18th home run of the year, a two-run shot to right field, putting the Cubs up 2-0.

Meanwhile, Taillon was dealing early, surrendering only one hit through five innings while racking up seven strikeouts.

Other than an Andrew McCutchen single in the first and a walk drawn by Cruz in the third, the Pirates were bereft of baserunners vs. Taillon until the seventh.

“He threw strikes, breaking ball (was) really effective, spinning it for strikes beneath the zone,” Kelly said of Taillon (7-3, 3.48 ERA). “Kept us off-balance.”

Heaney took the hill in the bottom of the sixth at only 59 pitches, with Crow-Armstrong’s homer the only real blemish on his evening to that point.

But with two outs, Suzuki cushioned the Cubs’ lead, lifting a solo home run to left field to give Chicago a 3-0 advantage.

In the seventh, the Pirates finally got to Taillon when Adam Frazier singled home Spencer Horwitz, who doubled.

Isaiah Kiner-Falefa followed with a base hit, the Pirates’ third in a row, leading to Taillon’s departure after 6¹⁄₃ innings.

Brad Keller, replacing Taillon, struck out Tommy Pham but plunked Brett Sullivan to load the bases.

That brought Jared Triolo to the plate, and he drew a four-pitch walk, scoring Frazier to make it 3-2 and re-load the bases for Cruz.

Cruz worked a full count but went down swinging on the sixth offering from Keller to end the frame.

“We found a way to get something going there (in the seventh) and win the ball game,” Kelly said. “Just couldn’t come up with the big hit.”

That shut the door on the stat line of Taillon, who allowed two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks.

Following Keller to the mound for Chicago was Daniel Palencia, who pitched a scoreless eighth.

In the ninth, Ryan Pressly took over for the Cubs, retiring the Pirates in order.