When the Pittsburgh Pirates signed catcher Roberto Perez, the focus was on his defense. After all, he was a two-time AL Gold Glove winner with Cleveland who had a reputation for working with talented pitchers.

Perez wanted to proved he still has some pop.

With a two-run single and a solo home run – his first with the Pirates – Perez showed that he could drive in runs in a 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Friday night at Wrigley Field.

“It means a lot,” said Perez, who went 2 for 3 with three RBIs and a run scored. “I always take care of my defense. I want to be back there every day for these guys, whether I hit or not. I’m working to be the guy that I was in 2019 or even better. Things are turning around and, hopefully, I can continue to do that.”

The game, originally scheduled for 2:20 p.m. (ET), was changed to an 8:05 p.m. start because of inclement weather forecasts.

Perez provided the Pirates an early lead after Kevin Newman singled and Josh VanMeter walked. When they executed a double steal to put runners at second and third, Perez singled down the left field line to score both for a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning.

The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the second. Patrick Wisdom and Yan Gomes drew walks and scored when Michael Hermosillo got his first hit of the season with a double to left field that Anthony Alford misplayed off the wall.

Alford, who started the season on the 10-day injured list with a right wrist sprain, went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and a popout in foul territory in his return after a rehabilitation assignment with Low-A Bradenton and Triple-A Indianapolis. Infielder/outfielder Hoy Park was optioned to Indianapolis to make room on the 28-man roster.

The Pirates took a 3-2 lead when Michael Chavis led off the fourth by drilling a 1-1 curveball off Drew Smyly 408 feet to center for a home run. They stretched it two runs when Perez, who hit 24 homers in 2019, drove a 1-2 fastball 386 feet to left field for a 4-2 lead.

Pirates starter Jose Quintana was seeking his first win after 17 consecutive games without one, but was pulled in the fifth inning with two outs and a runner on second base after giving up two runs on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts on 87 pitches.

“I think it all starts behind Q, the way that he pitched,” Chavis said. “He was throwing it. I was fired up, just seeing him command the zone and going after hitters. He wasn’t timid. That was great to see out of him, especially after that first outing (a 9-0 loss at St. Louis).”

Quintana said he lobbied Shelton to stay in the game to finish the fifth but respected the manager’s decision, given that the Cubs had reached the four right-handers in their batting order in Seiya Suzuki, Willson Contreras, Frank Schwindel and Patrick Wisdom.

“Where we saw Q was at the time and the execution of pitches,” Shelton said, “we thought the right-hander at the time was the best matchup.”

Heath Hembree, who pitched two-thirds of an inning on Thursday night, replaced Quintana and got Seiya Suzuki looking at a fastball for a called third strike.

Another Pirate who made his season debut was right-hander Chase De Jong, whose contract was selected from Indianapolis when the Pirates optioned Roansy Contreras to Triple-A to stretch him out as a starter. De Jong, who pitched seven innings of a combined no-hitter at St. Paul on April 14, capped a 1-2-3 sixth inning by striking out Patrick Wisdom.

The seventh was a bit shakier. Pinch hitter Ian Happ drew a two-out walk on four pitches and advanced to second on Nico Hoerner’s single. That led to a close call at second, where Josh VanMeter fielded a grounder up the middle and barely beat Hoerner to the bag for a forceout. Happ was headed home when the second base umpire Dan Merzel made the call but the Cubs decided not to challenge.

David Bednar came in for the eighth to face the heart of the Cubs’ order, and Suzuki started with a single. But Bednar struck out Willson Contreras, Frank Schwindel and pinch hitter Rafael Ortega with high heaters to end the inning.

After earning his first save of the season on Thursday night, Chris Stratton’s second save wasn’t easy.

Jonathan Villar started the ninth with a single to put the tying run on base. Stratton stuck out pinch hitter Alfonso Rivas looking, then got some good luck with a nice play by shortstop Newman in the shift on a Happ grounder up the middle that skipped off the mound to force out Villar at second.

Stratton, however, got some bad luck on the next play when Hoerner’s 105-mph comebacker bounced off Stratton’s right elbow to put runners on first and third. After manager Derek Shelton made a mound visit, Stratton shook it off and stayed in the game to face Nick Madrigal and got him to ground out to second to secure the win.

“He grinded through it,” Shelton said. “He got hit pretty flush. I don’t think he was coming out of the game. I kept asking him how he was and he kept ignoring me. Then he finally said, ‘I’m fine’ so I figured he wanted to finish it.”

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