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Henry Davis hit a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates sent the Chicago Cubs to their ninth straight loss with a 2-1 victory on Monday.
Davis took advantage of a 91 mph cutter from Cubs reliever Trent Thornton (2-1) and sent it well over the right field fence for his fourth home run of the season.
Pittsburgh’s bullpen kept him going. Wilber Dotel (1-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief for the win. Gregory Soto worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save as the Pirates beat the Cubs for the third time in four tries so far this season.
Brandon Lowe had two hits for Pittsburgh, including an RBI double. Spencer Horwitz also had a pair of hits and a handful of excellent plays at first base, all against Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong. Horwitz was perfectly positioned to catch a couple of line drives and then made a brilliant grab on a hard grounder before throwing it to Dotel covering first to rob Crow-Armstrong of a hit.
Michael Busch hit his sixth home run of the season for Chicago, but it wasn’t enough to stop a losing streak that is approaching three weeks. Chicago’s nine-game skid is the franchise’s longest since a 10-game skid in 2022. The Cubs have lost 13 of 15 overall to fall into the middle of the pack in the hyper-competitive NL Central, where all five teams began Memorial Day above .500.
Cubs starter Ben Brown allowed one run and four hits in six innings with two walks and seven strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.01.
Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski, fighting hard to stay in the rotation as Jared Jones nears his return from elbow surgery, allowed one run in five innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
Next
The series continues on Tuesday. Braxton Ashcraft (3-2, 2.89 ERA) starts for the Pirates.
Associated Press information.
