Mike Burrows posts career-high 8 strikeouts but Pirates' bats quiet in loss to Cubs

Mike Burrows has shown improvement as a starter dating to his first outing in late May, but the Pittsburgh Pirates have continued to keep him on a short leash, turning to the bullpen when the 25-year-old has run into trouble.

After his start Saturday at Wrigley Field, Burrows might well be earning some trust from manager Don Kelly, as he posted a career-high eight strikeouts and was sharp over 5¹⁄₃ innings.

But his club’s bats were quiet in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

Burrows (4.24 ERA) took a no-decision, allowing one earned run on five hits, walking none while throwing a career-high 81 pitches (56 strikes) in what was among his most effective starts as a big-leaguer.

“He’s doing a good job,” Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “He’s had some things to build off of each start. At first, obviously, they weren’t perfect, but he found ways to slow it down. He continues to get better each time he goes out.”

Burrows departed a 1-1 game with one out in the sixth, but reliever Ryan Borucki (1-3, 5.18 ERA), gave up a go-ahead solo home run to Dansby Swanson.

The Pirates (29-43) managed only five hits in the defeat, which was their 30th one-run game of the season.

Of those contests, the Pirates have won 14.

Andrew McCutchen’s first-inning homer off Cubs starter Matthew Boyd, his seventh of the year, provided an early 1-0 lead.

But in the third, Chicago tied the score on Ian Happ’s sacrifice fly that scored Nico Hoerner. Hoerner had led off with a single, stole second base and advanced to third when Matt Shaw grounded out.

Burrows navigated around a Pete Crow-Armstrong leadoff single in the fourth.

After Crow-Armstrong stole second and made it to third, Burrows struck out Carson Kelly looking to end the frame.

In the fifth, Burrows again allowed a leadoff single, this time to Hoerner, but retired Chicago in order from there, including a pair of strikeouts.

“It felt great,” Burrows said postgame. “(Catcher) Henry (Davis) called a great game, and I just executed. … It was really cool to do what I did and keep our team in the game.”

McCutchen’s homer represented the Pirates’ only hit until a single in the seventh, when he got aboard with a single off Ryan Pressly.

Not until a leadoff walk to Tommy Pham in the sixth did the Pirates manage another baserunner off Boyd.

However, Pham quickly was picked off at first base, and Boyd got through the sixth without further issue.

Boyd (6-3) was done after six innings, allowing only McCutchen’s homer with three strikeouts and a walk.

“Boyd was effective,” Kelly said. “He used his changeup really well against us. (Velocity) has crept back up for him a little bit. He just kept us off-balance with that changeup, mixing in the spin.”

Burrows, who tied the longest outing of his young MLB career, recorded the first out in the sixth but was removed in favor of Borucki with no runners on.

Soon after, Borucki surrendered the lead, as Swanson jacked a full-count slider over the left-field wall to give Chicago a 2-1 lead.

“We liked that lane for Borucki,” Kelly said of pulling Burrows. “Obviously, it didn’t work out perfectly but just thought (Burrows) had pitched extremely well to that point and liked Borucki with two out of three lefties coming up.”

McCutchen led off the seventh with a single but was erased when Bryan Reynolds hit into a double play.

Nick Gonzales and Ke’Bryan Hayes kept the inning alive with singles, but Davis struck out looking for the final out.

Pham managed to walk again in the eighth, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined out and Oneil Cruz grounded out, stranding him at first base.

In the ninth, Gonzales hit a two-out infield single, but Hayes struck out against Daniel Palencia to end the game.

McCutchen and Gonzales combined for four of the Pirates’ five hits.

Braxton Ashcraft (0.93 ERA) pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings after Borucki.