Cubs lefty Justin Steele dodged the line drive that the Pirates’ Liover Peguero sent through the space Steele’s head had just occupied. Steele’s left hand shot up, as if by instinct, but luckily the ball appeared to miss that too.
It bounced behind the base, and second baseman baseman Nico Hoerner went diving after it, making a heroic stop. But his rolling flip to second was a split second too late to get the out.
Peguero was the last batter Steele would face Wednesday in what became a 13-7 Cubs loss.
The way Steele has been pitching, it seemed almost inevitable that he’d work out of the fourth-inning jam. But one Pirates hitter after another battled into deep counts and found a way to put the ball in play and get on base. After six straight singles and no outs in the fourth inning, manager David Ross came out to take the ball from Steele.
Steele, who entered Wednesday as a strong National League Cy Young candidate, has been charged with six runs in each of his last two starts. But the games played out differently. In Arizona on Friday, Steele gave up a pair of three-run home runs, one in the first inning and one in the sixth, but was efficient in between.
On Wednesday against the Pirates, Steele threw three scoreless innings to start the game but failed to get an out in the fourth. It was the first time since the end of May that he hadn’t pitched through the fifth. And that three-inning start on May 31 preceded a two-week stint on the IL with a strained left forearm.
Cy Young race aside – Steele’s case obviously took a hit on Wednesday – the Cubs have been leaning on Steele all season. And they need him at his best in the final weeks of the regular season with the NL Wild Card race still tight.
Steele likely has two more starts left on the schedule, and he’s lined up to pitch the regular season finale in Milwaukee.
On Wednesday, Steele began his outing with a quick three-pitch strikeout. He stayed aggressive in the strike zone and gave up a single and double in back-to-back at-bats before escaping without allowing a run thanks to two strikeouts.
The next two innings, he faced the minimum. Then came the fourth inning.
Ke’Bryan Hayes began the Pirates rally by jumping on a first-pitch fastball down the middle from Steele.
Then, Connor Joe fouled off three pitches to get to a 2-2 count. Steele threw a high fastball over the middle of the plate for the seventh pitch of the at-bat. Joe hit an infield single to Steele.
Against Jack Suwinski, Steele got to a 1-1 count and then threw three straight sliders. Suwinski hit the third into shallow center field, driving in the Pirates’ first run of the game.
Steele also got Jared Triolo into a two-strike count, but he hit a fastball into right field. With the bases loaded, Steele battled with Henry Davis for nine pitches. To end the at-bat, Davis got his bat head out to a high fastball off the plate for an opposite-field two-run single.
Finally, Peguero kept the streak of singles going, in a 1-2 count, and to end Steele’s outing.
Cubs side-armer José Cuas replaced Steele and got out of the inning – but not before the Pirates had extended their lead to 7-1.
The Cubs offense staged a comeback effort the next inning. Their five-run rally included a solo homer by Christopher Morel and a three-run blast from Ian Happ. But the Pirates continued to add on against the Cubs bullpen.