The last thing these run-down Pittsburgh Pirates needed was a rundown with Javier Baez. When Baez went backwards, it might as well have mirrored the direction of the Pirates’ season.

A strange play you should not expect to see on a major league diamond led the Chicago Cubs to a 5-3 victory Thursday afternoon in front of a crowd of 7,202 at PNC Park. The Pirates’ losing streak reached six in a row, and they lost for the ninth time in the past 10 games.

Here’s the embarrassing breakdown of how the Cubs’ Willson Contreras scored from second base on a ball that only left the infield because the Pirates threw it into the outfield.

With two outs in the third inning and Contreras on second base after a steal, Baez hit a groundball to third base that looked like the routine third out of a scoreless inning.

Look again.

Erik Gonzalez’s throw pulled first baseman Will Craig off the bag, giving Baez an idea. He turned around and ran back toward home plate. Craig could have merely touched the base — he had plenty of time — but he decided to jog after Baez while Contreras was streaking toward home.

Contreras slid home safely just ahead of Craig’s unnecessary throw. When catcher Michael Perez tried to throw out Baez at first, second baseman Adam Frazier was late covering, and the baseball sailed into right field. A good throw and putout would have negated Contreras’ run — two runs, actually, as the inning progressed.

It was ruled a fielder’s choice and an error on Perez, with Baez advancing to second.

“They say if you stay in the game long enough, you’ll see everything. I’ve never seen that before,” said manager Derek Shelton, who blamed himself for not making sure Craig knew all he had to do was step on first base.

“That’s on me. We got to know that. I guarantee you’ll never see it again while I’m here. Our guys have got to know the rules. It’s a force out. The bag hasn’t moved in 104 years. If Baez runs all the way back or runs into their dugout or runs down to the Strip District, we can walk down and touch first.”

Craig was not available for comment on the Pirates’ postgame video conference.

“He knew he screwed up,” Shelton said of the 26-year-old former first-round draft choice. “(He’s) a young kid, and he made a mistake and we move on.”

The play became something of a comedy sideshow, with players in the Cubs dugout laughing out loud and clapping their hands while Baez signaled Contreras safe before turning and running to first base.

“I turn to the dugout, and everybody was celebrating like I hit a double. It’s just great,” Baez said. “They say I improvise. I don’t know.”

The play became an instant Internet hit.

“I did see a lot of people tagging me on Twitter and everywhere,” Baez said. “I can’t wait to get on it.”

After the Cubs were finished laughing, they resumed teasing the Pirates. Baez scored on Ian Happ’s bloop single, and Craig added to his misery by muffing David Bote’s groundball for the Pirates’ second error of the inning.

Starting and losing pitcher Tyler Anderson (3-5) avoided further trouble by getting Rafael Ortega to fly out to second base.

The result was Anderson throwing to three more batters than he would have under normal, non-Little League circumstances — and the Cubs getting two runs that never should have scored.

Shelton believed the additional work might have forced Anderson from the game an inning early. He left after the fifth.

“It affected us because it forced Tyler Anderson to throw about 20 more pitches,” Shelton said.

There was nothing unusual about two other runs the Cubs scored.

Kris Bryant hit his 11th home run in the first inning and Patrick Wisdom followed with a blast of his own in the fourth. It was Wisdom’s first of the season but the 64th allowed by Pirates pitching (third-most in the National League). Prior to the homer, home plate umpire Ryan Additon ruled Wisdom was hit by a pitch, but the Pirates won a challenge, extending the at-bat.

The Pirates scored on three homers: Bryan Reynolds and Gregory Polanco struck back-to-back in the fourth inning, and Perez added a solo blast in the seventh.

The Pirates rallied in the eighth, but another rundown blunder might have cost them a run.

After reaching first base on an infield single, Frazier tried to advance on an errant throw, but he was nailed between first and second base after the ball stayed in play. Wilmer Difo, who led off the inning with a walk, moved to third but wasn’t able to score on Ben Gamel’s short flyout to center field.

After relief pitcher Dan Winkler hit Reynolds with a pitch and walked Polanco to load the bases, Gonzalez ended the threat by grounding into a forceout.

“I think they got a really good carom (off a railing),” Shelton said of the Frazier rundown. “The way our day was going is they got a carom, and we got a replay call that turned into a homer. It was just one of those days where we didn’t catch many breaks.”

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