Willson Contreras' grand slam caps 8-run 1st as Cubs shut out Pirates | TribLIVE.com
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Willson Contreras' grand slam caps 8-run 1st as Cubs shut out Pirates

Kevin Gorman
| Monday, May 16, 2022 10:11 p.m.
AP
Pirates starting pitcher Dillon Peters wipes his face during the first inning Monday.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had no answer for Chicago Cubs leadoff batter Willson Contreras in the first inning — or left-hander Wade Miley for the first seven innings.

Contreras hit a double and a grand slam in an eight-run first, and Miley tossed a one-hitter over seven scoreless innings as the Cubs cruised to a 9-0 win over the Pirates on Monday night at Wrigley Field.

It marked the fourth time the Pirates were shut out this season. One of those was a 21-0 loss to the Cubs on April 23 at Wrigley Field, and they came back to win, 4-3, the following day.

The Pirates used lefty reliever Dillon Peters as an opener, given his 3-0 record without an earned run in 11 1⁄3 innings in four career games against the Cubs. Peters hadn’t allowed an earned run in three starts or an extra-base hit against the first 70 batters he faced this season.

That changed with the first pitch as Contreras led off with a double to right. Contreras scored on an Ian Happ broken-bat double that bounced off the bag at third base. Frank Schwindel and Yan Gomes (3 for 5) hit back-to-back singles to left, with Gomes driving in Happ for a 2-0 lead.

Five of the seven batters Peters faced reached base, and he was pulled after walking Jonathan Villar on four pitches to load the bases.

“Watching from the side and the swings they took, it looked like it was actually cutting a little bit,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He threw some changeups that kind of cut also. Because it was up, it was cutting right into their barrel.”

Bryse Wilson didn’t fare any better, giving up an RBI single on a swinging bunt by Andrelton Simmons to make it 3-0 and walking Rafael Ortega to score Gomes for a 4-0 lead. The Cubs batted around the order, and Contreras crushed Wilson’s first pitch, a 76.7 mph curveball, 422 feet to center field for his 100th career homer to give the Cubs a commanding 8-0 lead. Contreras became the 10th leadoff batter since 1901 to hit a grand slam in the first inning.

Leadoff hitters with 1st-inning grand slam, since 1901:

Willson Contreras, TodayGeorge Springer, 6/24/16Danny Tartabull, 4/15/86Von Hayes, 6/11/85Rick Miller, 4/12/78Jose Cardenal, 5/30/69Jim Landis, 4/19/62Harvey Kuenn, 7/20/54Pete Fox, 6/30/35Bill Cissell, 7/18/34 https://t.co/SzUaHjXPMN

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 17, 2022

“It’s definitely a different situation than what I’m used to,” said Wilson, who has started four games this season. “With the curveball to Contreras, you’ve just got to know that he’s probably going to ambush.”

Chicago added another run for a 9-0 lead in the fourth, when Happ (3 for 3) drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on an error by Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes — his fifth this season — and scored when Gomes hit into a double play.

Miley, who tossed a no-hitter for the Cincinnati Reds at Cleveland last season, pitched 4 2⁄3 perfect innings. The Pirates stretched their hitless streak to 13 innings, dating to the seventh inning of Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Reds. Hunter Greene and Art Warren combined to pitch eight no-hit innings in a 1-0 loss Sunday afternoon.

“(On Sunday), we just saw a guy with electric stuff,” Shelton said. “Today, we saw a veteran pitcher that works fast and knows how to execute pitches. We got behind and he did an excellent job with that.”

Using a quick tempo while mixing four pitches, Miley struck out six of the first 13 batters he faced before Michael Chavis tried to throw off his timing by stepping out of the batter’s box with Miley in his wind-up. Chavis was booed after hitting a bloop single to left field with two outs in the fifth, breaking up both the no-hitter and perfect game.

“It’s awkward, you know?” Chavis said. “It’s a little bit different. He doesn’t really have overpowering stuff. That’s why he does that.”

The Pirates didn’t get another hit until the eighth, when Yoshi Tsutsugo beat out a dribbler to reliever Michael Rucker for an infield single and Rodolfo Castro singled to left. But Rucker got Jack Suwinski and Michael Perez to ground out with runners in scoring position.

Afterward, the Pirates were shaking their heads over how Miley made quick work of their lineup.

“When you have a guy like that, once he gets the lead he pounds the strike zone,” Shelton said, “and it becomes a challenge.”


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