Cubs rally for 3 runs in 9th, beating Pirates on Frank Schwindel's headfirst slide at 1st base

The Pittsburgh Pirates were one out away from a win when their latest defensive debacles against the Chicago Cubs came down to a dropped fly ball in right field and a headfirst slide to beat the tag at first base.

Frank Schwindel hit a grounder deep to shortstop and slid under the tag of first baseman Colin Moran when Kevin Newman’s throw pulled him off the bag. That allowed pinch runner Andrew Romine to score the winning run as the Cubs rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Pirates, 7-6, on Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

“It was a tough play. Newman made an unbelievable attempt at it. Personally, I thought he got him,” Pirates reliever Chasen Shreve said. “But personally, I don’t matter in that scenario.”

As the Cubs celebrated, ripping Schwindel’s jersey off his back, the play went to video review. Ultimately, the umpire crew signaled that the call on the field stood and Schwindel was safe.

“From our angle, it looked like he tagged him,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, “but that’s not how it went.”

It was the latest loss with a wild ending for the Pirates (48-88), who lost their fifth consecutive game in Chicago after dropping a two-game series to the White Sox. The Pirates have lost three consecutive games to the Cubs (62-75) — all by one run — and Schwindel had a hand in all three wins. The teams finish the four-game series Sunday.

The Cubs won 6-5 on Thursday when second baseman Wilmer Difo’s error allowed a Schwindel pop fly to drop and score the winning run in the 11th inning. They won 6-5 again Friday when Shelby Miller gave up a solo home run to Schwindel to break a tie game in the sixth.

This time, the Cubs were trailing by two runs going into the ninth against Chris Stratton, who gave up a one-out single to Matt Duffy and a two-out walk to Sergio Alcantara. Pinch hitter Alfonso Rivas hit a bloop single to right to score Duffy and cut it to 6-5, then was replaced by pinch runner Romine. Rafael Ortega followed with a fly ball to right for what should have been the third out. Right fielder Ben Gamel couldn’t corral the ball, allowing Alcantara to score and tie the game.

“I mean, it sucks,” Shelton said. “We’ve played well, and we’ve come back from deficits, and we’ve lost some games because we didn’t catch the ball, and we need to catch the ball.”

In a game where the Pirates pulled two pitchers because of right shoulder discomfort, it was the erratic performance of a Chicago Cubs right-hander that had the most dramatic effect early.

Kyle Hendricks lost his signature control in the fifth inning, when he gave up one hit, three walks and hit a batter.

It was a productive output for a lineup that featured four hitters batting below the Mendoza Line, as the Pirates rapped out eight singles for nine hits. The lone extra-base hit came in the first inning, when Yoshi Tsutsugo sent a Hendricks 1-1 curveball 404 feet off the video scoreboard in right field for a 1-0 lead. It was Tsutsugo’s sixth home run in his first 38 at-bats since signing Aug. 16, and the 29th home run allowed by Hendricks this season.

Pirates right-hander JT Brubaker, activated before the game from the 10-day injured list (right thumb contusion), struck out five and gave up three hits in the first three innings. The Cubs, however, scored three runs off Brubaker in the fourth, when he was removed.

Brubaker gave up a leadoff double to Ian Happ and walked Willson Contreras, and his wild pitch put runners on second and third with no outs. That was a sign something was amiss, and Shelton pulled Brubaker with a 3-2 count on Patrick Wisdom. Shelton said Brubaker was “having some trouble with extension,” but Brubaker declined to comment on specifics of the injury.

Lefty Sam Howard walked Wisdom to load the bases, then gave up a run-scoring single to Duffy that tied the score. Jason Heyward grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Contreras to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead, as Moran opted for the forceout at second instead of throwing it home. The Cubs stretched their lead to 3-1 when Wisdom scored on an Alcantara groundout to third.

But the Pirates tied it in the fifth when Hendricks walked leadoff batter Phillip Evans, gave up a single to Cole Tucker and walked Jacob Stallings with one out to load the bases. Moran drew a five-pitch walk to score Evans and make it 3-2. Hendricks then hit Anthony Alford with a pitch to score Tucker to tie the game.

Trevor Megill replaced Hendricks but threw a wild pitch that skipped past Contreras and allowed Stallings to score for a 4-3 Pirates lead. Difo followed with a two-run single to left to stretch the lead to 6-3.

Schwindel blasted a 450-foot solo shot off Duane Underwood Jr. that bounced high off the scoreboard in left field for his fifth homer in six games to make it 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth.

After walking Wisdom to start the sixth, Underwood felt tightness in his shoulder and exited the game. Shelton made a double switch, bringing in Shreve and pulling Tsutsugo — who made the final out in the top half of the inning — to use Gamel as a defensive replacement in right field.

Shreve pitched two scoreless innings, and Stratton pitched a perfect eighth before blowing the lead in the ninth in a dramatic defeat.

“It sucks. There’s not really much else you can say,” Shreve said. “We played great. I feel like we’ve been playing great. Just getting the wrong end of the stick. There’s not much else to say there. It just, you know, sucked.”