The Pirates found one of the more embarrassing ways to lose on Friday afternoon against the Cubs. After falling behind 7-1 after five innings, the Pirates rallied for four runs in each of the sixth and eight innings before tying the game at 10-10 in the ninth inning. A win after all of that work sure would have felt nice for the Buccos.
Reliever Radhames Liz started the 12th inning and quickly got the first out with a strikeout of Kris Bryant. But he walked Starlin Castro, then allowed a single to Miguel Montero, which sent Castro to third base. Liz intentionally loaded the bases by intentionally walking Jorge Soler to bring up Matt Szczur. Szczur sent a fly ball to Gregory Polanco in shallow right field. Polanco, coming in, stumbled and slipped, allowing the fly ball to drop and send the winning run home for an 11-10 Cubs victory.
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It was, uh, not pretty. Sadly, it erases the great play Polanco made to save the Pirates’ bacon in the 10th inning when he made a catch in shallow right field then threw out Castro at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
