Cubs win battle of rookie pitchers in Pittsburgh
The Cubs warmed up for Paul Skenes' major-league debut by facing the Pirates' other rookie pitching sensation, Jared Jones, on Friday.
Jones started the day with a 2.68 ERA and ranked 11th in MLB in strikeouts per nine innings. The Cubs managed to limit Jones to 4 strikeouts, broke the game open against the Pittsburgh bullpen, and posted a 7-2 victory at PNC Park.
In the first inning Cody Bellinger ripped Jones' fastest pitch of the night (100.5 mph) into the right field bleachers for his second home run of the week.
Jones threw just one pitch above 100 mph. Skenes is likely to hit triple digits a dozen times or more when he makes his much-celebrated Pirates debut on Saturday against Justin Steele. Skenes was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft out of LSU.
The Cubs had their own rookie pitching star Friday. Ben Brown came on in relief and threw 3⅔ scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts, earning his first major-league victory in the process.
Brown has 4 starts this year, but if the Cubs' rotation stays relatively healthy, he'll be needed to play an important bullpen role.
“It was a wonderful outing by Ben,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He was really crisp today and just throwing a ton of strikes. He got the breaking ball going really good and we saw some funky swings and they were uncomfortable with it. That was a big outing.”
Before the game the Cubs activated Seiya Suzuki but also lost another regular. Shortstop Dansby Swanson went on the 10-day injured list with a right knee sprain.
Suzuki has been sidelined since April 14 with an oblique strain. He was not in Friday's lineup after playing two rehab games in Iowa.
The Cubs can only hope Suzuki's return can mirror Bellinger, who homered and went 4-for-5 Friday. In three games back since recovering from broken ribs, Bellinger is 7-for-13 at the plate.
Swanson said he hurt the knee during a slide in the last game of Houston series, back on April 25. He took a couple days off along the way, but the injury wasn't improving. He's 1 for his last 18 at the plate.
One other injury of note was Jameson Taillon. The Cubs' scheduled starter Friday was scratched due to some back pain. He's hoping to shake it off and take the mound for Sunday's series finale.
Javier Assad did start Friday and had a rough first inning, loading the bases on an error by Christopher Morel and 2 walks. Assad then gave up a 2-run single to Nick Gonzalez, who was just called up and making his first big-league appearance of the season.
Morel made a second error later in the game. These were his first errors since April 3.
The Cubs trailed 2-1 into the fifth, when Nico Hoerner scored from first on a Bellinger double. There was no RBI, though, because the throw to the plate had Hoerner beat easily, but Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal dropped the ball as he tried to make the tag.
A Miguel Amaya RBI single in the sixth put the Cubs ahead, then they tacked on 4 in the seventh thanks to RBI hits from Morel, Ian Happ and Nick Madrigal.
Happ, who extended his on-base streak against his hometown team to 60 games, talked about facing high-velocity pitchers like Jones and Skenes.
“Being in a spot where you're on time for the fastball's kind of the most important thing,” Happ told reporters after the game. “That's the hardest part when you're facing really high velocity ever day, you start to get a little pull-happy, trying to get out in front of that pitch, and that can put you in a bad spot.”
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