Dansby Swanson had an RBI single in the 10th inning to fuel the visiting Chicago Cubs in a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.
Pedro Ramirez reached on an infield single to join automatic runner Ian Happ on the bases in the 10th inning. Swanson’s single to center field off Yohan Ramirez (6-3) plated Happ to give Chicago a 2-1 lead, and Seiya Suzuki tacked on a crucial insurance run by drawing a bases-loaded walk.
That made a winner out of Caleb Thielbar (3-2), who retired the side in order in the ninth inning. Gavin Hollowell yielded a run-scoring groundout in the 10th before securing his first save of the season.
Yohan Ramirez permitted two runs on two hits with two walks in one inning.
Pete Crow-Armstrong belted a solo homer and had two of the six hits for the Cubs, who have won four of their last six games.
Henry Davis had an RBI single and joined Jake Mangum and Ryan O’Hearn in recording two hits for the Pirates.
Marcell Ozuna and Brandon Lowe each worked a walk off Matthew Boyd to lead off the fifth inning and Jared Triolo reached on an infield single to load the bases. Ozuna came home to open the scoring while Davis legged out an infield single to second base.
Boyd, however, limited the damage by retiring the next three batters to end the inning.
The slim advantage didn’t last long, as Crow-Armstrong deposited a 3-1 slider from Jared Jones over the wall in right field in the sixth inning. Crow-Armstrong’s homer was his team-leading 22nd of the season and first since he went deep on two occasions against the Baltimore Orioles on July 8.
Chicago second baseman Nico Hoerner kept the game scoreless in the third inning after following up his diving stop on a grounder in the hole by throwing behind Davis at third base. Alex Bregman, the Cubs’ third baseman, raced up the third-base line and tagged Davis to end the inning.
Happ, a left fielder, kept the game tied at 1-1 after throwing out Davis at the plate to end the seventh inning.
