Pirates 4, Cubs 3: This space intentionally left blank

I’m not sure what to think of the Cubs’ frustrating 4-3, 11-inning loss to the Pirates Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Should I be unhappy because they lost, and part of the reason was a player playing his first game at first base — ever?

Or should I take some solace in the fact that they came back from a 3-0 deficit with a stirring ninth-inning rally, and Cubs pitching held the Pirates down after the third inning? (Well, at least until that ugly 11th.)

It’s kinda both, but this one does leave a sour taste.

Let’s begin at the beginning. Edward Cabrera wasn’t as sharp as he had been over his first two starts, and issued three walks in addition to allowing eight hits. That gave the Pirates a 3-0 lead after three, and it could have been more, but they left several runners on base early and the Cubs turned a double play in the second.

Meanwhile, Braxton Ashcraft kept the Cubs completely off balance for the first four innings. They had three singles over that time, with none of the runners getting past first base.

The Cubs broke through in the fifth. Michael Conforto walked with one out and went to third on a single by Dansby Swanson, and Swanson took second on the throw in. This might have been a big inning, but the Cubs simply aren’t taking advantage of those situations. Conforto did score on a ground out by Nico Hoerner [VIDEO].

That made it 3-1.

Cabrera finished five innings, and his line isn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. More from BCB’s JohnW53:

Edward Cabrera became the 52nd different Cub to allow no more than total three runs in his first three starts of a season. Dick Ellsworth, Shota Imanaga, Jon Lester and Steve Stone each did it twice.

Cabrera is the 33rd season of three such runs, including ones by Ellsworth, Imanaga and Stone. There have been 19 seasons of two runs, two of them by Lester. Imanaga and Stone are among the five who gave up one. The three others were Rich Hill, Carl Lundgren and Mike Prendergast.

So there’s that, anyway. Here’s more on Cabrera’s afternoon [VIDEO].

Ben Brown came in and threw the sixth and seventh and did a nice job, despite allowing a couple of hits. He struck out three and induced a double-play ball. Brown seems to be taking to this long-relief role.

The Cubs made it 3-2 in the seventh. Miguel Amaya led off with a walk and took second on a single by Conforto. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Amaya scored on another ground out, this one by Swanson [VIDEO].

So, rallies are going on, but even with RISP the Cubs are only scoring on outs.

Jacob Webb threw a scoreless eighth, including a pair of strikeouts. That’s good after Webb has struggled in the early going. Hoby Milner then threw a 1-2-3 ninth that included an odd play, a ball that bounced off his foot that was picked up by Amaya, who threw Brandon Lowe out at first. You don’t see a 1-2-3 play very often:

Then, the bottom of the ninth, with the Cubs trailing 3-2. Swanson walked with one out. Then Swanson moved to second on a passed ball. One out later, Carson Kelly also walked, and Shaw replaced him as a pinch runner.

That brought Alex Bregman to the plate [VIDEO].

That was a real nice piece of hitting, going the opposite way on an 0-2 sinker. Shaw took third, representing the winning run, but Ian Happ flied to right and thus we were off to the Cubs’ first extra-inning game of 2025.

Daniel Palencia, who hadn’t thrown since Sunday, came in for the 10th. He got the first two outs on routine fly balls, issued a walk, then retired pinch-hitter Nick Gonzales on a ground ball to third, giving the Cubs a real chance to win it in the bottom of the 10th.

Happ was the placed runner. Seiya Suzuki struck out and Pete Crow-Armstrong was intentionally passed. Amaya struck out on a pitch that he challenged [VIDEO].

The pitch was pretty clearly in the zone, but that wasn’t a bad place to challenge. Worth using it at that point, I thought. Both runners then moved up on a wild pitch, putting the winning run on third with two out. Conforto walked to load the bases, but Swanson grounded out to end the inning.

In the 11th, Caleb Thielbar entered, coming off a bad outing Friday. But he struck out the first two batters he faced, before issuing an intentional pass to Oneil Cruz, who had a four-hit afternoon. I agree with that choice, too, setting up a possible force at second or third.

Then this happened:

Well, I dunno. You tell me. No, that wasn’t a good throw by Thielbar, who was charged with an error. But does a more experienced first baseman knock that down and keep the lead runner at third? Or throw him out at the plate?

I guess we’ll never know. The Cubs opted to pinch hit for Michael Busch with Kelly in the seventh. Busch has really been struggling with the bat, so I don’t necessarily argue with that move. But the thing is, the Cubs don’t have an experienced backup first baseman. Shaw had literally never played the position, except for Spring Training, before this game. Kelly, who replaced Busch, had never played first base before this year either. This was just his second appearance at the position.

You can see how important first base defense is with this one play.

Anyway, that run was all the Pirates got, and turned out that’s all they needed. Swanson was the placed runner in the 11th. Nico hit a comebacker that Yohan Ramirez threw away for an error, putting runners on second and third with nobody out.

Unfortunately, that was as close as the Cubs got to scoring in the 11th. Shaw hit a line drive to right that was too shallow to score the tying run. Bregman popped up to first. Happ was intentionally walked to set up a force at any base, but Suzuki also popped up to end things.

The Cubs went 1-for-15 with RISP and left 16 (!) runners on base. That’s pretty awful. The Pirates weren’t much better, going 2-for-19 with RISP and stranding 13. This was an ugly, ugly game in what’s now an ugly, ugly series.

Eventually the Cubs offense will get untracked. These hitters are too good to keep doing this for much longer. Maybe Sunday, when the weather is supposed to be better (sunny, in the 70s). Jameson Taillon will try to help the Cubs salvage one win in this series. Bubba Chandler goes for the Pirates. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.