PITTSBURGH _ That wasn't the way manager Clint Hurdle drew it up, but it worked. On the day Hurdle and general manager Neal Huntington signed four-year contract extensions, the Pirates came from behind against the first-place Chicago Cubs and stole a 4-3 win. The tying and go-ahead runs occurred in an eighth inning when the Pirates committed the first and third outs at third base.
The Pirates (67-72) have won four games in a row.
They had little luck against Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who flummoxed them for 6 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs on five hits, walked none and struck out two. The problem for the Cubs, however, was their bullpen. Reliever Carl Edwards Jr. melted in the eighth.
The start Tuesday went to left-hander Steven Brault after the Pirates skipped right-hander Ivan Nova, who they believed had shown signs of fatigue in his second-half downturn. Brault had toiled at Class AAA Indianapolis this season, named the International League's pitcher of the year honor with a 1.94 ERA, while waiting for the Pirates to call for a seventh starter this season. (In 2016, they used 14 starting pitchers. Brault was one.)
In his last start at Indianapolis, Brault pitched before a crowd of 14,303. There were fewer on hand for his start at PNC Park, where the announced attendance was 14,079.
On Tuesday, Brault showed luck, if such a thing is visible. He did not strike out a batter in five innings of work. He allowed eight hits and two walks yet managed to limit damage. Since he'd spent the past two weeks in the bullpen, he certainly had a limit to his pitch count. Somewhere north of 80 pitches, but not far. He blew most of it early and threw 90 for five innings.
The way at-bats unraveled for Brault early in the game, he surely was content with turning in five innings of three-run baseball. The game started with back-to-back singles from alliterative duo Jon Jay and Albert Almora Jr. The Cubs got on the board when Ben Zobrist lifted a one-out sacrifice fly to right field. It represented the first run off a Pirates starter in the past four games.
The Pirates punched back and claimed the lead in the home half of the first inning. After David Freese singled, rookie Jordan Luplow extended his arms for an 86 mph sinker low and away. The baseball crashed into the bleachers beyond the left-center notch, the second homer Luplow put in that vicinity this week. At 431 feet, it was the 10th-longest Pirates homer this season.
For Brault, traffic thickened in the third. Almora and Kris Bryant spanked singles, and Ian Happ scored them with a single. Another base hit and a hit by pitch loaded the bases. Rene Rivera flied out and Hendricks bounced a grounder back to the pitcher's mound. Brault had survived three innings, trailing only 3-2, but it took 62 pitches.
Brault spent 15 more pitches in the fourth, so Hurdle certainly was readying the hook. He didn't need it. After stranding eight Cubs on base over the first four innings, Brault delivered a 1-2-3 innings in the fifth, capped by a fine sliding catch from Andrew McCutchen.
Hendricks, meanwhile, continued to give the Pirates fits into the seventh inning. After Luplow's second-inning homer, Hendricks faced 19 batters and retired 16 _ the three outliers being a McCutchen single, a Happ throwing error and an Elias Diaz single that chased Hendricks with two outs in the seventh. Of Hendricks' final 17 outs, 13 (plus the error) were ground balls.
Edwards whiffed Jordy Mercer to end the seventh.
In the eighth, the Pirates stole the lead with some smart hitting and abysmal base-running. John Jaso walked. Starling Marte singled. Max Moroff blooped an RBI single to left, tying the game, and Marte was thrown out at third. After Josh Bell was intentionally walked, David Freese struck an RBI single to center field. Bell, in turn, was thrown out attempting to advance to third base.
