After coming up short in a winnable game on Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs were tasked with doing battle against Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes if they wanted to leave the Steel City with a series victory. After driving up the right-hander’s pitch count in the early-going, they capitalized in the fifth inning, doing something no team has managed against him in his career to this point.
Cubs blast three home runs against Paul Skenes in rubber match
Chicago took him deep three times in the frame, with Dansby Swanson continuing his recent turnaround out of the eight-hole and Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki following with solo shots of their own to erase the Pirates’ 2-0 advantage and turn it into a 3-2 ballgame.
Suzuki added a second homer in his next at-bat off Pirates right-hander Kyle Nicolas, as the Cubs padded their lead in the rubber match of the three-game set. That blast gave him a team-leading nine long-balls, and he and Tucker are tied with a team-high 28 RBI.
Opposite Skenes, Colin Rea continued his incredible run, filling in for Justin Steele with a quality start, a six-inning, two-run effort. His ERA now sits at 1.46 on the young season. It’s hard to imagine how much longer he can sustain this level of dominance, but you can bet nobody – especially Craig Counsell – is complaining in the meantime.
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