Brandon Lowe, bullpen help Pirates avoid a sweep against Cubs

It was a winning trip to Chicago for the Pittsburgh Pirates, even if it wasn’t the final record they hoped for.

The Pirates ended their week in the Windy City with a 4-3 win against the Chicago Cubs at a drizzly Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon, avoiding a three-game sweep. Brandon Lowe provided the winning hit, a two-run pinch-hit single in the sixth inning.

Lowe’s teammates were impressed by his swing, coming up big even off the bench.

“It's really hard to pinch-hit and really hard to pinch-hit in a tight moment against a good pitcher, and he was able to do it,” Nick Gonzales said on SportsNet Pittsburgh’s postgame show. “... Really good job by him.”

Bubba Chandler earned the win, allowing three runs, all earned, in 5 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits, walked four and struck out three batters. He kept the Cubs off the board until the fifth, when Miguel Amaya hit a two-run homer.

Manager Don Kelly praised his maturity following the game.

“He had a couple innings where it looked like it was starting to speed up a little bit,” Kelly said. “To his credit, he found a way to slow it down again, especially in a tough environment here in Wrigley.”

Chandler left with the bases loaded in the sixth. Carmen Mlodzinski came in mid-inning and induced an RBI groundout then a flyout to preserve the lead. Kelly praised Mlodzinski’s heartbeat following the game.

It led to a familiar situation for the Pirates — a 4-3 lead heading into the eighth inning, just as they had against the Cubs on Saturday.

This time around, Kelly turned to Luke Weaver with two right-handers and a switch hitter due up. Weaver threw a 1-2-3 inning, needing just seven pitches. He was aided by a leaping catch from Lowe.

Mason Montgomery threw a clean ninth inning on seven pitches for his 13th save of the season.

They went 4-2 on the road trip. They once again have a .500 record with 12 games to go.

It was over when …

… Mlodzinski escaped the jam in the sixth. It proved to be the Cubs’ last and best chance of the game, as the three Pirates relievers did not allow a hit.

On the mound

Chandler has been caught by Rafael Flores Jr. lately, but Henry Davis had the assignment on Sunday. The pair leaned heavily on Chandler’s slider, as he threw it 42% of the time — nearly double his usual rate. It didn’t draw many whiffs, but it was good for two of Chandler’s three strikeouts.

Despite the heavy usage, Chandler wasn’t exactly happy with how the slider performed.

“We're trying a lot of things and we're trying to make it better, kind of just get it back to what it was a couple months ago when it was good,” Chandler said. “Now other things have gotten better, which is great. But yeah, I think today, the locations with it just [weren’t] great.”

That led to fewer fastballs. While his velocity was slightly lower than typical, Chandler also hit 100 mph twice on his final at-bat, a walk of Mt. Lebanon’s Ian Happ. He drew just three whiffs on 90 pitches.

“Everything else feels great,” Chandler said. “Moving the ball around how I want to with both fastballs and changeups too. That's nice, but yeah, got to figure out [the slider].”

While there were more walks than there have been, it was still another solid outing for Chandler. In 10 starts since the All-Star break, he has a 3.40 ERA. He had a 4.77 ERA in the 19 outings before the break.

At the plate

The Pirates didn’t do much after an early run against Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd. They started the game strong, as Konnor Griffin blooped a single, Oneil Cruz walked and Bryan Reynolds singled Griffin home.

They made the most of their next chance. Reynolds started the sixth inning with a walk before Flores, starting at first, singled. Nick Gonzales doubled into the ivy in right field to score Reynolds, then Lowe hit his two-run single against right-handed reliever Aaron Civale.

Still, Pirate base-running cost them chances to capitalize further in both innings.

Cruz was thrown out trying to advance to third on Reynolds’ single in the first, with his slight hesitation capitalized on by Cubs catcher Amaya. And in the sixth, Jake Mangum tried to steal third on a 3-1 pitch by Civale but got picked off easily.

Bucs bites

— On his weekly radio show, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said that the Pirates are “very optimistic” so far with all they have learned regarding Braxton Ashcraft’s right arm discomfort. While there still is more information left to come, they are currently confident that there is no structural damage.

— Additionally, Cherington said Esmerlyn Valdez’s left hamstring strain is season-ending. The injury is somewhere between a Grade 1 or Grade 2 strain.

— Right-hander Kirby Yates is dealing with a right shoulder impingement, but he could return during their upcoming nine-game homestand, Cherington said.

Up next

The Pirates are off on Monday before beginning their longest — and final — homestand of the year. Nine games in Pittsburgh will start on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. ET with three against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates have not announced who will face Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski on Roberto Clemente Day.

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