Boyd got early start to pickoff plan; Cubs beat Pirates

Matthew Boyd is too nice a guy to use his powerful pickoff move as it was truly intended.

“The guy that taught me it, he used to joke, 'If you don't like someone, just hit him and pick him off,' because it's that good,” Boyd joked. “I'm not going to try that at the big league level.”

The move has been around for a while. Boyd said he was 9 years old when introduced to it by Bellevue (Wash.) Community College coach Mark Yoshino. A pickoff at first base played a role in the Cubs' 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday at Wrigley Field.

So what about when he was 9? Would Boyd hit some guys on purpose who were giving him a hard time at school or anything like that?

“No, my dad was my coach, so we weren't trying to hit people on purpose,” Boyd said. “But if you did walk them, it was always nice to have that tool in your tool belt.”

This was the third straight day the Cubs and Pirates played a low-scoring, one-run contest. Every little detail could make a difference. So Boyd picking off Tommy Pham for the first out of the sixth inning could have been a big deal. Dansby Swanson's solo homer in the bottom of the sixth was the difference in the game.

Boyd gave up Andrew McCutchen's career home run No. 326 in the first inning, then settled in and completed six innings for the seventh time in his last eight starts.

After the game, there was extra focus on his pickoff move, since Boyd was telling such good stories about it. As a left-hander, he can coax runners to suspect he's throwing to the plate, then change direction and catch them straying off first. First baseman Michael Busch said he never gets fooled.

“I'm not leaving first (base) until the ball's almost halfway to the plate,” Busch said. “It's such a good move, he does an extremely good job with it. I'm always expecting it.”

Every year when Boyd goes back home to the Seattle, he spends time with Yoshino working on the pickoff. Last year when he was rehabbing from elbow surgery, he spent even more time in Bellevue. Boyd also credited Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy, a left-handed thrower himself, for adding some tweaks.

“For me, if I didn't pick anybody else off the rest of the year, but it kept them a step closer to the base and they didn't steal a base, it would be a win,” Boyd said. “That's kind of the point of it, right? It's not the move in and of itself. It's just the things you can have to impact on the game.”

This was yet another day when the wind was blowing in at Wrigley. The Pirates started right-hander Mike Burrows, a former 11th-round draft pick making his fifth major-league start.

Burrows opened his season by pitching twice against the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. He finished Saturday's game with 8 strikeouts, no walks and just 1 run allowed in five-plus innings, coaxing 10 swings and misses with his change-up.

“I felt like he kind of had one of those heaters that we were just fouling off all day and he was really locating his change up well,” Swanson said. “I felt like we got a lot of awkward swings on it. So you've got to give him credit for making pitches, but at the end of the day, good for us to be able to get a win.”

Each side hit a home run, and the Cubs were able to manufacture a run in the third. Nico Hoerner singled, stole second, took third on Matt Shaw's grounder to the right side and scored on Ian Happ's sacrifice fly.

The bullpen delivered again. Ryan Pressly kept his scoreless inning steak alive with help from a generous strike three call. Drew Pomeranz felt some back tightness, but finished the eighth. Then Daniel Palencia, pitching for the third straight day, recorded his sixth save.

“We take pride in being good at everything,” Swanson said. “I think it's really good for us to be able to go through stretches where we're having to really compete and find ways to win games. At the end of the day, if we have more runs than they do, that's a good thing.”

Imanaga takes mound: Injured starter Shota Imanaga (left hamstring strain) had his second rehab outing Saturday in Arizona against some Reds rookies. Imanaga reportedly tossed 4 scoreless innings in 100-degree heat, then threw some additional pitches in the bullpen. He's expected to do one more rehab start, possibly in Triple-A, before rejoining the Cubs.