The Cubs\u2019 (29-24) slump got even worse as they went winless in a six-game homestand against the Brewers and Astros. Continued offensive issues have combined with the starting rotation regressing under the weight of injuries to feed into their active eight-game skid. To make matters worse, they now have to go back out on the road for a two-team swing through the division. First up is a four-game set in the Steel City against the Pirates.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh (27-26) is currently in last place in the NL Central, but they are a game over .500 and are very much a factor in the division. They took two out of three from the Cubs at Wrigley Field in April and are 13-13 at PNC Park this season.<\/p>\n
The offense continues to hold its own with a .718 team OPS that is 10th best in MLB. Second baseman Brandon Lowe<\/a> is having an impressive season with 13 homers and an .898 OPS. Top prospect Konnor Griffin<\/a> has been good at shortstop, although not spectacular in 46 games.<\/p>\n The starting rotation is still the strongest aspect of Pittsburgh\u2019s roster with a 3.62 ERA as a unit. Ace\u00a0Paul Skenes\u2019<\/a> numbers are a bit down from his 2025 Cy Young<\/a> campaign, but he can be absolutely dominant when he\u2019s on. The big story early on is Braxton Ashcraft,<\/a> who has a 2.89 ERA and has matched Skenes with 65 strikeouts through 62.1 innings.<\/p>\n The Pirates\u2019 biggest vulnerability so far has been the bullpen, which has a 4.13 ERA that is ranks 17th in baseball. Dennis Santana<\/a> began the season as the closer but was replaced by lefty Gregory Soto<\/a> after he was ineffective. Another left-hander,\u00a0Evan Sisk,<\/a> has been excellent, and several young arms have been moved into more prominent roles recently.<\/p>\n The North Siders have very few answers right now, and an attempt to shake up the lineup over the weekend had mixed results. An injury to Edward Cabrera<\/a> has further weakened a starting rotation that is wobbling badly already. At this point, getting any kind of win would be huge to offer temporary relief, even if for just a day.<\/p>\n Game Time and Broadcast Info<\/p>\n Monday, May 25 at 12:35pm CT on Marquee. Starting Pitchers<\/p>\n What to Watch For<\/p>\n Jordan Wicks<\/a> took Cabrera\u2019s spot and will make his first MLB start since 2024 in Tuesday\u2019s game.
\nTuesday, May 26 at 5:40pm CT on Marquee.
\nWednesday, May 27 at 5:40pm CT on Marquee.
\nThursday, May 28 at 5:40pm CT on Marquee.<\/p>\n
\nLook for recent call-ups Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara<\/a> and Pedro Ram\u00edrez<\/a> to get a start or two in the series.
\nIan Happ<\/a> was benched Saturday and Sunday in the midst of a 5-for-42 stretch in which he has struck out 24 times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cubs\u2019 (29-24) slump got even worse as they went winless in a six-game homestand against the Brewers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73768,89219,89220,89221,89222,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-202022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-edward-cabrera","tag-ian-happ","tag-jordan-wicks","tag-kevin-alcantara","tag-pedro-ramirez","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}