PITTSBURGH — Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant admits it’s different now than it was during any other rough stretch he has been through in five seasons as a Cub.
“Guys are more on edge. More irritated,” he said on the heels of one of their worst losses in a disappointing first half, just before the Cubs routed the Pirates 11-3 on Thursday to salvage the final game of a four-game series at PNC Park.
“But it’s not a bad thing at all,” said Bryant, who helped key the win with four hits, including a first-inning homer. “I think that’s kind of what [team president] Theo [Epstein] addressed in the offseason, when he said he wanted us to have more urgency.
“We’re not being complacent. We’re not being, ‘Oh, we’re the Cubs; we won the World Series and we made the playoffs this many times in a row.’ No, we lose and we’re pissed off, and that’s the way it should be.”
Nobody was more upset Thursday than Cubs manager Joe Maddon after All-Star shortstop Javy Baez was nearly hit by high-and-tight pitches twice by Pirates starter Jordan Lyles in the fourth inning.
Maddon was ejected by umpire Joe West for yelling from the dugout at the Pirates.
“He was concerned I was inciting something,” said Maddon, who then charged from the dugout toward the Pirates’ dugout, where manager Clint Hurdle stood on the top step as if he were waiting.
West blocked Maddon’s path, restraining him even as Maddon tried to spin around him.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen Joe that mad,” said catcher Willson Contreras, who eventually helped calm down Maddon and walk him back to the dugout.
“I have no issues with pitching inside; I’m an advocate,” said Maddon, who was upset with the repeated “out of control,” up-and-in pattern shown all week by the Pirates. Hurdle boasts about the Pirates’ “persistence in pitching inside.”
One inning after Maddon’s ejection, David Bote was hit on the helmet by a pitch. He stayed in the game and said afterward he was fine.
“They just need to be careful,” Maddon said. “That’s a real good team. And they’re good guys. I like the guys on this team. But if they keep pitching like that, a lot of these guys are not going to like their pitching staff.”
At which point Maddon was reminded that the Pirates play the Cubs in the first series after the All-Star break.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “I cannot wait.”
Until then, the Cubs might try to harness the life they found after losing five of their first six games during this two-city trip, and 15 of their previous 23 overall.
“We took his fire,” said Contreras, who doubled, homered and added a single in the Cubs’ five-run fifth. “Today we needed that.
“We’ve been having a lot of tough times, but we’re still looking forward, man. We’re still fighting.”
For all their struggles — which drew the public ire Wednesday of Epstein — the Cubs moved back into a first-place tie in the tightly crammed National League Central when the Brewers lost in Cincinnati.
The Cubs have 74 games left, including two against the White Sox this weekend.
“Right now, every game counts, and I have a lot of responsibility to do my job,” said starter Jose Quintana (6-7), who earned both wins during the trip.
Only 3½ games separate the five teams in the Central, which either makes it the toughest division in baseball or the most pedestrian.
“Listen, we’re lucky,” Maddon said. “We’re all lucky right now that nobody’s just run away with this thing.”
Which might make the second half unlike any Maddon or Bryant have seen in their five seasons together.
“We’re supermotivated,” said Bryant, who still has last year’s wild-card exit on his mind. “Everybody here wants to win. That’s why it’s a little bit of a different vibe, because we don’t want what happened last year to happen again.”
