Pirates blow seven-run lead in loss to Cubs

PITTSBURGH — The home clubhouse at PNC Park was silent Wednesday afternoon. Not that there was particularly much to say.

Wednesday at least was set up to be a bounce-back win to salvage one in the series, but instead it was the biggest gut punch in what has been a brutal month of August for the Pirates, in which they have gone from being in the thick of the playoff picture on Aug. 1 to suffering their biggest blown lead since 2011 on Wednesday, stumbling to a 7-18 record in between.

“I don’t know about the last three, but today, it’s right up there,” manager Derek Shelton said when asked if this was the most challenging series of his Pirates tenure. “I don’t know if I’ve been as pissed as I am right now.”

After Pittsburgh built up a 10-3 lead through six innings, Shelton sent reliever Kyle Nicolas out for a second frame, but the Cubs struck for a pair of runs, forcing the skipper to go to Aroldis Chapman to close out the inning. With Colin Holderman (right wrist sprain) still on the injured list and Carmen Mlodzinski almost surely unavailable after throwing two innings in his first outing off the IL Tuesday, Shelton then tried to get a second inning out of Chapman, who allowed three runs and needed to be lifted for Dennis Santana.

Closer David Bednar entered the ninth with a two-run lead and, despite allowing one run and loading the bases, managed to get two outs. But then Cubs catcher Christian Bethancourt lined an 0-1 fastball that shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa could only get a piece of before it trickled into left field to put Chicago ahead, 11-10. Jalen Beeks would get the final out of the inning but not before allowing the two inherited runners to score, along with a run charged to himself.

“[Bednar] had no command of the secondary stuff,” Shelton said. “Had to throw fastballs. I mean, we almost got out of it. Alika [Williams] made a hell of a play [attempting to turn two], and we almost got out of it. IKF would’ve had to make a good play [on Bethancourt’s ball], but I mean, we have to cover. We had a 10-3 lead into the seventh. We have to cover the game.”

The loss was Bednar’s sixth blown save of the season, ballooning his ERA to 6.32 over 50 outings. He has allowed 16 runs (15 earned) in his 15 2/3 innings since being activated off of the injured list on July 12. Shelton would not comment on Bednar’s status as the team’s closer moving forward.

August has been a grueling month, with the Pirates losing by one run eight times and blowing a league-high seven saves. They’ve had opportunities but have fallen short more times than not.

“There’s no complacency. It’s execution,” Shelton said. “We’ve got to execute. We’re not executing. If you don’t execute at the end of games, you don’t win games. That’s what happened to us in August. It’s what we did a really good job at in June and July. We need to figure it out.”

That leads to the question that is on everyone’s mind, how do the Pirates respond to and recover from this?

“You’ve just got to really hammer down playing for each other,” said Paul Skenes, who allowed three runs (two earned) with six strikeouts over five solid innings on Wednesday. “Get back to our identity as a team. Because you feel like guys like Beddy and Chappy and Kyle, they’re really good, all three of them. On an individual level, feel for them in that way. You’ve just got to get back to our identity and play for them.”

Added Bryan Reynolds, who went 3-for-5 with a homer: “We’ve got to just stick together as a team and have each other’s backs. Just grind and pass the baton to the next guy.”

“It’s a good time for an off-day tomorrow,” said Connor Joe, who had three hits. “… We’ve still got a month left in this season, and you’re going to wear punches throughout the year. My best answer to that question is to stick together as a team and play for each other, keep having each other’s backs and get through this as a unit. You know what I mean? It’s not going to do anyone any good to deviate from the team. Stick together.”