Pirates suffer 9th consecutive loss, 3rd straight series sweep in lopsided loss to Cubs

The Pittsburgh Pirates ended one streak but are stuck in another.

After 25 scoreless innings, the Pirates finally scored a run to take an early lead against the Chicago Cubs.

It wasn’t enough, as Nico Hoerner hit a two-run triple and a solo homer to lead the Cubs to an 8-3 win Wednesday afternoon before 22,522 at PNC Park.

After losing their ninth consecutive game in suffering a third straight series sweep to an NL Central opponent, the Pirates can’t help but wonder what they have to do to win.

“I wish I had the million dollar answer to that right now, because, offensively, we gotta get out of this funk that we’re in,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We had two hits. Again, we created opportunities, but they’re through walks. We gotta figure this out. We have some young kids that are struggling to keep their head above water, and we gotta stay with them.”

The nine-game losing streak matches the Pirates’ longest since June 6-16, 2021. They endured two eight-game losing streaks last season and a seven-game losing streak from April 30-May 7 this season.

The Pirates have been outscored 63-20 over this nine-game losing streak — including 20-3 in the three-game homestand against the Cubs — and suffered three shutouts in their previous four games. After starting 20-9, the Pirates (34-39) have lost 30 of their past 44 games. Since June 13, the Pirates have dropped from first to fourth place in the division standings and are now five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers.

“It sucks, definitely,” Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “It’s a very winnable division. We just have to be better moving forward. We have a lot of time left. There’s no need in getting down just because we’re a little bit out of it right now. There’s still a lot of baseball. We’re not even to the (All-Star) break yet. We just have to figure out how to flip that switch to get back to playing the game we know how to play.”

The Pirates ended their scoreless streak in the second inning, when Connor Joe drew a leadoff walk and scored on a double to right by Josh Palacios for a 1-0 lead. It was their first run since Bryan Reynolds’ two-run home run in the third inning Sunday at Milwaukee.

The Cubs answered with a three-run third. Miguel Amaya hit a leadoff double, Mike Tauchman followed with a walk, and both runners advanced on Nick Madrigal’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Hoerner’s triple to the right-field corner for a 2-1 lead. Seiya Suzuki’s sacrifice fly drove in Hoerner to make it 3-1.

“The disappointing part was the Tauchman walk,” starting pitcher Rich Hill said. “That one was really frustrating. We have a way better team than this last week-and-a-half has gone. We know that, but we have to continue to keep working.”

Hill retired the next nine batters and had two outs in the sixth when Christopher Morel reached on a throwing error by Hayes, only his third of the season and first since May 21. Hill hit Trey Mancini with an 0-2 pitch, then gave up a two-run double to Ian Happ as the Cubs stretched their lead to 5-1.

After Hill walked Yan Gomes, the Pirates brought in Roansy Contreras, who struck out Amaya to end the inning. Hill (6-7) allowed three earned runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Hoerner hit a first-pitch fastball 366 feet over the Clemente Wall in right field for a solo home run and a 6-1 Cubs lead with two outs in the seventh.

The Pirates loaded the bases against Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (3-2) in the bottom of the seventh, when Joe hit a leadoff single, Henry Davis was hit by a pitch and Cal Mitchell drew a walk. Hendricks allowed two hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings against a Pirates lineup that was without Reynolds (lower back), Andrew McCutchen (right elbow) and Carlos Santana, who had the day off.

“That’s challenging,” Shelton said. “I think you saw a bunch of young at-bats today against a really good veteran pitcher.”

Rodolfo Castro did the Cubs a favor when he struck out chasing a splitter low and away on a full count, but the Cubs returned it on the next play. Tucupita Marcano, pinch-hitting for catcher Austin Hedges, hit a grounder to first that should have ended the inning. Instead, Mancini bobbled the ball and then threw wide to pitcher Mark Leiter covering first. Marcano reached on Mancini’s error, which allowed Joe and Davis to score as the Pirates cut it to 6-3.

Happ doubled in the eighth off Angel Perdomo, who was pulled after he walked Amaya and Tauchman to load the bases. Yerry De Los Santos gave up a two-run single to Madrigal as the Cubs stretched their lead to 8-3.

The Pirates had runners on the corners in the eighth against Julian Merryweather, but Davis went down swinging. Since hitting a double in his first major league at-bat, Davis is 0 for 9 with a walk and a hit by pitch.

With a four-game trip to Miami, the Pirates are hoping that a change of scenery will help them snap their losing streak.

“I hope that’s the case,” Shelton said. “We need it to be the case. We need to break out of this funk.”