CHICAGO — The playoffs are no longer possible for these Pirates, who were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday at Wrigley Field.
How that happened wasn't necessarily pretty, but it was appropriate.
For a second straight day, Pirates pitchers encountered a heap of trouble, served up mistakes like a bartender pouring beers, and the Cubs took full advantage.
The final result was a 14-1 Cubs win, marking the first time since Jackie Robinson played — June 23-24, 1950 — that the Pirates have allowed 14 or more runs in back-to-back games.
"That’s definitely a bummer," Kevin Newman said of the Pirates being eliminated from postseason contention. "But we do have 13 more games. We just have to show up every day and continue to compete."
It also wouldn't hurt to pitch better than the Pirates have over the past two days, although it would probably tough to fare worse.
Consider the wreckage:
• The Pirates used five pitchers in this game. Three were designated for assignment at other times this season: Wei-Chung Wang, Parker Markel and Yefry Ramirez. The other two were James Marvel and Clay Holmes, who started the season in the minor leagues.
• Those five allowed four home runs, bringing the Cubs’ two-day total to nine. Over the past two games, Pirates pitchers have been charged with 31 earned runs — or as many as the first-place Cardinals have allowed in all of September (before Saturday).
• The Pirates (65-84) have now allowed 10 or more runs 28 times this season, matching the club record set back in 1930.
• Pirates pitchers hit four batters in the game, something that has not happened since May 8, 1909.
“When our starter gets behind early and gets taken out, our second line hasn’t been very good,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “It’s been an area of non-support for us at times. We haven’t been able to stay in games.”
They certainly didn’t stay in this one long, as Marvel hardly resembled the guy who buzzed through the Cardinals lineup during his MLB debut this past Sunday.
Instead, he fell behind in counts, and the Cubs hit him hard. The 26-year-old right-hander lasted just four innings, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits, two of those home runs.
Things really unraveled in the fifth and sixth, when Clay Holmes lacked any semblance of control and hit three Cubs during a five-batter stretch when tempers flared.
Cubs rookie Nico Hoerner smashed a hanging curveball from Holmes out to left for a three-run shot that gave the Cubs a 13-1 lead.
“The sinker command wasn’t really there, so I was trying to go to some of the offspeed,” Holmes said. “I left one over the plate to Hoerner, and he took advantage of it.”
It looked for a couple minutes like the Pirates might have another fight on their hands, as David Bote took exception to Holmes hitting him. Bote screamed at Holmes. Holmes screamed back. The bullpens walked slowly into the outfield. The dugouts emptied. However, cooler heads prevailed.
“It wasn’t intentional,” Holmes said. “It was definitely the heat of the moment. I’m sure he’s not happy. Luckily things calmed down.
“I was trying to throw a slider in. He ducked down. It was the worst-case scenario there.”
Nicholas Castellanos gave the Cubs an early 3-0 lead with his bases-clearing double in the second inning. The Cubs’ right fielder ripped an elevated changeup from Marvel out to left for his MLB-leading 51st double of the season. He added another in the fourth and scored on Kris Bryant’s home run.
Bryant’s bloop single scored one more in the second before Ben Zobrist hit a solo homer in the third, crushing an elevated sinker from Marvel out to right for a 5-0 Cubs lead.
Those two pitches, to Castellanos and Zobrist, were a microcosm of Marvel’s outing.
In his MLB debut, Marvel was able to stay around the plate and get quick outs. This time, the Cubs — clearly having watched some video — didn’t bite. They made Marvel work and whacked the heck out of his mistakes.
“As the game went on, my inability to land my breaking ball behind in the count hurt me,” Marvel said. “I feel that’s a strength of mine, being able to throw all my pitches at any time. [Saturday], at least early, I wasn’t as solid.”
Where Marvel goes from here will be interesting. The entire Pirates pitching staff was awful on Saturday. The group’s ERA now stands at 5.16, this group flirting with the possibility of producing the worst team mark since a 5.22 ERA in 1953.
Chris Archer is likely done for the year — but should be part of the 2020 rotation. There’s a good chance Joe Musgrove and Trevor Williams will be, too. Steven Brault has struggled in his past two outings, but it would take a lot to kick him out.
Somehow, though, the Pirates need to figure out how to pitch better, whether it’s their starters or out of the bullpen. Because what has transpired here, even though the Cubs are good, isn’t going to get it done.
“It doesn’t feel good to be the starter in a ballgame that ends up like it did [Saturday],” Marvel said. “But for me, I’m going to try and learn from the this. I’ll reflect on it and come back here [Sunday] and look at some of the video, make some adjustments, get with [pitching coach] Ray [Searage], get with some of our guys and find a way to get better moving forward.”
Around the horn
The Cubs have hit a franchise-record 237 home runs this season. … Kyle Hendricks gave Chicago six innings of one-run ball. He has an MLB-best 1.75 ERA at home this season. … Kevin Newman collected three hits and raised his average to .319, while Bryan Reynolds went 0-for-3 and saw his drop to .321. … The Pirates left 16 men on base.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: September 14, 2019, 9:48 p.m.
