The Pittsburgh Pirates took the rubber match of their three-game set at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs 2-1 on Sunday.
The Pirates were powered by rookie starting pitcher Brandon Crumpton, who won his third game of the year. He went scoreless seven inning, allowing just two hits and striking out four. Over the course of his outing, he threw a total of 87 pitches.
"I really didn't know what my pitch count was until I got done," he said in an article on ESPN.com. "I felt like I threw a lot more than I did. Later on, I started to fall behind guys. I tried not to shy away from my strengths and when I got behind guys 1-0 I tried to go back and attack them with fastballs and they put them in play for me and the guys made plays behind me today."
His run support came in the third inning, when Pittsburgh scored both of its runs. Left fielder Travis Snider homered to center for the first run, and second baseman Josh Harrison singled to score catcher Chris Stewart.
The Pirates had a shutout going until the Cubs began to rally in the bottom of the ninth. First baseman Anthony Rizzo and shortstop Starlin Castro both singled to start the inning. Rizzo scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of right fielder Nate Schierholtz. Center fielder Junior Lake flied out to end the Cubs chances of tying or winning the contest.
Both teams amassed six hits. For Pittsburgh, first baseman Ike Davis and Snider accounted for two hits each.
Despite taking the loss, Chicago starter Jason Hammel pitched well, going seven innings and allowing two runs on six hits. He struck out six, reports MLB.com.
Pittsburgh is now one game below the .500-mark at 37-38, while Chicago falls to 31-42.