Pirates homer 4 times, Chad Kuhl shines in shutout of Cubs in home finale

The home finale for the Pittsburgh Pirates started the same way as their home opener almost two months earlier, with automated crowd noise cheering a Colin Moran home run at an otherwise empty PNC Park.

What was drastically different is Moran’s was the first of a season-high four homers by the Pirates, and starter Chad Kuhl threw five no-hit innings in a 7-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday afternoon.

“It felt great,” Kuhl said. “Obviously, I want to finish strong. It just worked. Kept the pitch count down, was able to go seven and help the team get a win.”

The Pirates finished with 14 hits, including homers from and multi-hit games by Moran (3 for 3), Bryan Reynolds (3 for 4) and Adam Frazier (2 for 5). The fans who watched from the Clemente Bridge got to see the Pirates (18-39), who have the worst record in the majors, score a third consecutive victory over the NL Central’s first-place team.

“They played great baseball,” Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward said. “They pitched well. They got a lot of big hits. They played better than us. We just got beat. They were the better team in this series. They were impressive.”

Kuhl (2-3) was most impressive in pitching seven scoreless innings — his longest outing of the season — in which he had five strikeouts and gave up two hits, three walks and hit a batter. It was the fifth quality start in six games by a Pirates pitcher, as their starters have combined for a 1.60 ERA in 62 innings over the past 10 games.

Kuhl’s no-hit bid was broken up with one out in the sixth, when Anthony Rizzo’s line drive sailed over the outstretched glove of right fielder Gregory Polanco and off the Clemente Wall for a double. With runners on first and third, Kuhl got Kyle Schwarber to fly out to left to end the inning. Kuhl got out of another jam in the seventh, when he gave up a one-out double to Jason Kipnis and hit Javier Baez with a pitch but got Victor Caratini to line out to short for a double play to end the inning.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton was impressed with the way Kuhl kept the Cubs off balance with his breaking pitches.

“He had it all going for him. He executed pitches,” Shelton said. “I am really proud of him for this last start. It was an outstanding start, to be able to come back after a couple walks in a tight game against a team that’s going to win our division To do that (against) that lineup is big sign of maturity that’s really cool to see.”

Pitching with a cushion helps, and Moran hit a two-out homer to center off Alec Mills to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The 413-foot shot was Moran’s ninth of the season and his first in a dozen games.

“It was cool,” Moran said. “Anytime you hit a homer, it’s a good feeling, for sure. He left a pitch up with two strikes, and I was able to get on top of it. Yeah, whenever you square up a baseball, it feels good.”

Reynolds hit a 404-foot homer to center to make it 2-0 in the second. Jared Oliva (2 for 4) followed with an infield single for his first major league hit, taking second on an errant throw by second baseman Jason Kipnis.

Frazier homered to start the third, sending a 3-2 fastball 397 feet into the right-field seats for his seventh of the season and second in as many days for a 3-0 lead.

The fourth inning started with successive singles by Reynolds, Oliva and JT Riddle, whose grounder skipped off the spikes of Oliva and into right field. Oliva was called out, putting Reynolds back at second and Riddle at first. Frazier singled to shallow left to score Reynolds for a 4-0 lead but Riddle was thrown out at the plate by Schwarber.

Josh Bell’s two-run homer in the fifth gave the Pirates a 6-0 lead.

The 384-foot liner to left field was Bell’s eighth of the season. The Pirates added another run when Ke’Bryan Hayes singled, advanced to third on Moran’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Polanco for a 7-0 lead.

Geoff Hartlieb had two strikeouts in pitching a scoreless eighth, and Blake Cederlind threw a 1-2-3 ninth for the shutout and a celebration that Pirates fans didn’t get to cheer for in person. That put a damper on Shelton’s rookie season as manager, something he hopes will change next season.

“Very bluntly, it sucks,” Shelton said. “One of the most exciting things for me in 2021 is going to be at this ballpark and there’ll be people here and it’ll be loud. As we’ve talked about all along, going back to November when I got the job, the passion of Pirates fans is real and I can’t wait to experience it.”