NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
Henry Davis hit a solo home run in the seventh inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates sent the Chicago Cubs to their ninth straight loss with a 2-1 victory Monday.
Davis turned on a 91 mph cutter from Cubs reliever Trent Thornton (2-1) and sent it well over the right-field fence for his fourth homer of the season.
Pittsburgh’s bullpen kept him going. Wilber Dotel (1-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief to earn the victory. Gregory Soto pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save as the Pirates beat the Cubs for the third time in four tries so far this season.
Brandon Lowe had two hits for Pittsburgh, including an RBI double. Spencer Horwitz also had two hits and a handful of excellent plays at first base, all against Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong. Horwitz was perfectly positioned to rip off a few line drives, then made a brilliant diving catch on a sharp grounder before throwing to Dotel covering first to deprive Crow-Armstrong of a hit.
Michael Busch hit his sixth home run of the season for Chicago, but it wasn’t enough to end a nearly three-week funk. Chicago’s nine-game skid is the franchise’s longest since a 10-game slide in 2022. The Cubs have lost 13 of 15 games overall to find themselves in the middle of the pack in the hyper-competitive NL Central, where all five teams started Memorial Day above .500.
Cubs starter Ben Brown allowed one run and four hits in six innings with two walks and seven strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.01.
Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski — who is fighting hard to stay in the rotation as Jared Jones nears his return from elbow surgery — allowed one run in five innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
To be continued
The series continues Tuesday. Braxton Ashcraft (3-2, 2.89 ERA) starts for the Pirates.
Associated Press reporting.
