The Chicago Cubs staged a comeback from a 5-0 deficit to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-6 in a walk-off victory at Wrigley Field. Michael Busch ended his 0-for-30 slump with a key eighth-inning RBI single that tied the game. Carson Kelly delivered the game-winning hit in the ninth.
Chicago trailed 5-0 after two innings but chipped away at the lead. Cubs starter Jameson Taillon allowed two wind-aided homers early but settled in for six innings. In the eighth, Busch pinch-hit and sliced an RBI single to left-center off Pirates reliever Justin Lawrence. A throwing error by Pittsburgh left fielder Bryan Reynolds allowed a second run to score, tying the score at 6-6. Dansby Swanson, who scored on Busch's hit, said, “For him to be able to come through in that situation is huge for him, and huge for us.” With the bases loaded in the ninth, Carson Kelly drove a pitch from José Urquidy into the right-center gap for the winning run. Cubs manager Craig Counsell had benched Busch for the day to help him reset mentally amid the slump. “This is just trying to give a reset to a player that’s a really good hitter,” Counsell said. Busch entered the game batting .118 with a .377 OPS after going 0-for-30 over eight games. Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz led off the game with a 422-foot homer, his fifth of the season, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games. Wind added 65 feet to the blast, the most in the Weather Applied database over four seasons. Cruz also walked and stole a base in the series finale. He batted .339 with a 1.044 OPS leaving Chicago after a strong series, including four hits and three steals in Saturday's 4-3 Pirates win. Last season, Busch hit .261 with 34 homers and shone in the postseason with a 1.128 OPS over eight games.
