The Cubs broke their long losing streak with a 10-4 win over the Pirates Wednesday, though that game was close until the late innings after the Cubs had taken an early lead.
They followed the same script Thursday, though it took them a while to break through against Paul Skenes. Even so, a 3-0 lead became 3-2 and it felt a bit too close for a while until Ian Happ’s eighth-inning homer keyed a three-run inning, leading to a 7-2 Cubs win over the Pirates. Hey, a baby winning streak, two in a row!
Advertisement
Paul Skenes had no trouble to start things off, retiring 10 of the first 11 Cubs, seven of those by strikeout. The first Cub to reach base until the fourth was Dansby Swanson, who walked in the third.
Pete Crow-Armstrong then singled and tried to stretch that into two bases when Swanson drew a throw to third.
Not a good idea, Pete [VIDEO].
I understand wanting to be aggressive on the bases and the play was, indeed, close. But against a pitcher like Skenes who’s dealing? Why not just have runners on first and third with two out?
Colin Rea was matching zeroes with Skenes, though he did give up a double in the first and walked and hit a batter in the third.
Advertisement
Then Michael Busch walked with one out in the fourth and one out later, Ian Happ singled.
Seiya Suzuki’s single gave the Cubs the lead [VIDEO].
Fact about that run from BCB’s JohnW53:
This was the third time in their eight games facing Skenes that the Cubs scored first. They won both of the previous two, also at Pittsburgh, 14-10 on Aug. 28, 2024, and 4-1 on Sept. 16 of last year. Skenes got the loss in the first game and no decision in the second.
1-0 Cubs was how the game stayed until the top of the sixth. Busch walked for the second time and Alex Bregman reached on a throwing error.
An infield single by Happ and another Pirates error made it 2-0 [VIDEO].
Bregman took third on the play and that was it for Skenes, who threw 103 pitches in 5.1 innings. That’s always a good game plan against Skenes — try to run up his pitch count and get him out of the game as early as possible. He did strike out 10 Cubs. Mason Montgomery relieved Skenes and got Suzuki to hit a ground ball, but Suzuki beat a possible double-play relay and Bregman crossed the plate with the third Cubs run [VIDEO].
Advertisement
The Pirates, though, made it close in the bottom of the sixth. Bryan Reynolds, always tough on Cubs pitching, homered, his 14th all-time against the Cubs. Two more hits, including an RBI double from rookie Tyler Callihan off reliever Hoby Milner, made it 3-2. The second run was charged to Rea, who overall I thought threw pretty well. Here’s a summary of Rea’s outing [VIDEO].
Caleb Thielbar threw a scoreless seventh, striking out two, and then the Cubs blew the game open in the top of the eighth — all with two out and nobody on base. Bregman singled and Happ followed with his 12th home run of the year [VIDEO].
That ball was crushed! [VIDEO]
Here’s a cool field-level view of Happ’s homer [VIDEO].
Advertisement
The Cubs were not done in that inning. Suzuki singled and pinch-hitter Michael Conforto walked. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and as ball four was thrown to Miguel Amaya, the pitch got by Pirates catcher Henry Davis and Suzuki scored to make it 6-2 [VIDEO].
Trent Thornton threw a 1-2-3 eighth, all on ground outs, and the Cubs then extended their lead in the top of the ninth. PCA walked and Nico Hoerner singled. PCA drew a throw again when he tried for third, and this time he was safe, with Nico taking second.
Bregman hit a grounder to second and the Pirates threw home to try to get PCA. He was called out, but the call was overturned on review to make it 7-2. You can see PCA’s right hand touch the plate just before he was tagged
Advertisement
Thornton allowed a leadoff single in the ninth, then got a double-play ball and this fly to deep right field to end the game [VIDEO].
Nice work by Thornton, who got six outs on only 22 pitches. He’s become a real asset in the bullpen.
More on this win from John:
With their win Thursday night, the Cubs are 164-156 since 2000 in games immediately after ones in which they had scored at least 10 runs. They are 4-2 this season.
The Cubs averaged 12.02 runs in the double-digit games, then 4.83 in the next games, including 6.66 in the wins.
Here’s Happ on his home run, on facing Skenes and about Rea’s game [VIDEO].
Happ appears to be starting one of his hot streaks. He went 5-for-11 in the last two games in Pittsburgh with two home runs and seven RBI. Also, this fun fact about Happ:
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
The win put the Cubs in second place in the NL Central, half a game ahead of the Cardinals (despite having one more loss) and four games behind the Brewers. And they’ll have a chance to put more distance between themselves and the Cardinals beginning tonight, as they open their first 2026 series against their division rivals in St. Louis. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Andre Pallante goes for the Cardinals. Game time is 6:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.