Pirates fall in 10 innings as Cubs take 3 of 4 in series

The Pittsburgh Pirates departed Chicago on Sunday having dropped three of four to the Cubs after another extra-innings loss at Wrigley Field.

Every game was a one-run affair, including Sunday’s 3-2 setback in 10 innings courtesy of an Ian Happ game-winning RBI single against David Bednar (1-5, 3.38 ERA).

For manager Don Kelly, a feeling of exasperation persists in watching close games continue to slip through his club’s fingers, largely because of a lack of offense.

“It’s frustrating, but it just shows we’re right there,” Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Cubs are leading the division, four one-run games, we came on top of one. Obviously, we wish it was more. … We had a chance in the three games we lost, for sure.”

Mitch Keller (4.08 ERA) delivered quality start No. 11 on the year but took a no-decision, allowing two runs in six innings while striking out three with two walks.

In the bottom of the 10th, Vidal Brujan started on second base as the automatic runner and was soon joined at first by Kyle Tucker, whom Bednar intentionally walked.

After Brujan and Tucker pulled off a double steal, Bednar struck out Jon Berti but Happ ripped a single into right field to give Chicago the victory.

The Pirates (29-44) gave Keller a rare early lead, jumping on Cubs starter Colin Rea in the first inning.

Oneil Cruz and Nick Gonzales singled, and Spencer Horwitz plated Cruz with a single.

Alexander Canario then made it 2-0 with a soft groundout to third, allowing Gonzales to score.

But after the first inning, the Pirates managed only one hit for the remainder of the game, a Horwitz single in the sixth.

Keller gave the lead right back in the bottom of the first, beginning with a leadoff walk to Happ that quickly became costly.

After Happ stole second and advanced to third on a Pete Crow-Armstrong groundout, a Seiya Suzuki groundout scored him, making it 2-1.

Michael Busch then hit a bloop ground-rule double that landed just fair before bouncing into the left-field stands. Dansby Swanson tied the score with an RBI single.

“A leadoff walk never helps,” Keller said. “Next pitch, stolen base doesn’t help. Basically starting off in extra innings is kind of tough to hold them to a zero there. … Got to get ahead, stay ahead and that’s what we did the rest of the game, which was a different story.”

Keller and Rea got into a rhythm following an eventful first inning.

In the fifth, Brett Sullivan and Cruz put good swings on offerings from Rea, with Sullivan’s shot to right field projected as a home run in more than half (16) the ballparks across MLB, per Statcast.

But both plays, including Cruz’s 107.9 mph liner, failed to get down or leave the yard, resulting in flyouts.

Suzuki felt a similar disappointment in the sixth, when he launched a ball deep into left-center field that stayed in the park, allowing Cruz to make a routine catch at the wall.

Rea’s afternoon ended after six innings. He took a no-decision, allowing four hits while striking out four with a walk.

After Keller departed, Isaac Mattson pitched scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth.

The Cubs countered with Caleb Thielbar in the seventh and Genesis Cabrera in the eighth, both of whom kept things scoreless.

In the ninth, Ryan Pressly retired the Pirates in order.

Dennis Santana took over in the bottom of the ninth, allowing a single to Swanson and double to Nico Hoerner, which put men on second and third with two outs.

But he escaped unscathed, as Justin Turner grounded out to end the frame and begin extra innings.

In the 10th, the Pirates went down in order, failing to advance automatic runner Adam Frazier from second base.

“It was a well-fought series,” Kelly said. “It sucks when you go 1-3 in the series because we know we had a chance to win some of these games. There were a lot of really good things, things we need to continue working on offensively and continue to get better at.”