*Photo from MLB.com*
Dansby Swanson homered and drove in 3 runs, the pitching staff didn't allow a hit, and the Chicago Cubs defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 12-0 victory Wednesday night in Chicago.
The Cubs are continuing their rapid rise up the standings, now sitting at 72-68 with their 7th win in 10 games. This time, they did it on the back of a combined no hitter, with 3 pitchers holding the Pirates offense down all night. Nate Pearson didn't realize when he came in for the 8th.
Pearson said after the game "I honestly didn’t know we had a no-hitter going. And I ran out there and started getting booed and I realized, ‘Oh, we probably have something on the line here.’ I kind of just locked it in and did my part."
Seiya Suzuki gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Ian Happ scored on his single. One inning later, it became a 4-0 Cubs lead thanks to an RBI double by Pete Crow-Armstrong and a two run single by Happ. In the 3rd inning, the Cubs tagged on again with a two run home run by Swanson to make it 6-0.
Later in the 3rd, Crow-Armstrong hit a solo home run to center field to make it a 7-0 game. In the 5th inning, Swanson plated Isaac Paredes with an RBI double before Nico Hoerner scored on a single by Crow-Armstrong to make it 9-0. In the 6th, Cody Bellinger hit a two run home run to make it 11-0. It became 12-0 in the 8th when Michael Busch scored on a single by Miles Mastrobuoni.
Shota Imanaga did the bulk of the heavy lifting in the no hitter for the Cubs, handling the first 7 innings while allowing just two walks and striking out 7. Pearson worked a scoreless 8th and Porter Hodge sealed the deal on the no hitter in the 9th.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of pulling Imanaga after 7 "Look, it’s always hard to do in that situation. But you’re taking care of Shota. It’s not fun to do, but you’re prioritizing the player’s health. He actually didn’t know he had a no-hitter going at all, which is funny."
It was Domingo German who started for the Pirates, getting hit to the tune of 7 runs on 9 hits and a walk in 3 innings, 6 of the runs being earned. Jalen Beeks allowed a pair of runs in two innings and Kyle Nicolas allowed two more in one inning. Ryan Borucki pitched a scoreless inning before first baseman Rowdy Tellez pitched one inning and allowed a run.
German said of his rough start "I couldn’t execute any of my pitches today. I left a lot of pitches over the strike zone, and they connected really well. I left a lot of fastballs up in the strike zone and they connected really good. They’re a good lineup, and they just battled through the game and made adjustments."
The Pirates are back in action Thursday night with a home game against the Washington Nationals, with Bailey Falter starting the series opening game. Javier Assad gets the start for the Cubs against the New York Yankees Friday afternoon.
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