Cubs 2, Pirates 1: Dansby Swanson’s home run is just enough

The Cubs also got solid pitching and defense.

The sun finally appeared at Wrigley Field Saturday afternoon following a dreary Friday and a cloudy morning.

The Cubs offense, though, didn’t really show up, scoring just two runs. However, they also got outstanding pitching from Matthew Boyd and three relievers and Dansby Swanson’s tie-breaking homer in the sixth was the difference in a 2-1 Cubs win over the Pirates.

Andrew McCutchen, the second batter of the game, homered to give the Bucs a 1-0 lead early. It was McCutchen’s 32nd career homer against the Cubs, which ties him for second-most among active players with Paul Goldschmidt. Eugenio Suárez leads with 36.

But that was it for the Pirates off Boyd. He retired 14 straight Pirates after that until a leadoff walk in the sixth to Tommy Pham. And then, Boyd used his deceptive pickoff move to get Pham [VIDEO].

The next two Pirates were routine outs. Boyd faced just 19 hitters, one over the minimum for six innings, just an outstanding outing. More from BCB’s JohnW53:

Boyd is the first Cubs starter this season to pitch at least six innings and give up one hit. Twenty-three other teams had had at least one such start, including nine with two and the Padres and Royals with three. Last year, the Cubs had four. (Ben Brown gave up one hit in six innings as a reliever following an opener on May 31 at home vs. the Reds.)

Here’s more on Boyd’s outstanding start [VIDEO].

While all this was going on, the Cubs offense couldn’t get much going against Mike Burrows. A one-out single by Kyle Tucker was it until the third, when Nico Hoerner led off with a single and stole second. He advanced to third on an infield out and scored on this sac fly by Ian Happ [VIDEO].

Tucker followed with a single and took second on a wild pitch, but was stranded.

In the fourth, Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a single and stole second. He advanced to third one out later on a ground out, but Carson Kelly struck out to end the inning.

After Boyd’s day was complete after six with 93 pitches (63 strikes), the Cubs got the lead in the bottom of the inning after the first two hitters were routine outs.

Swanson then smacked his 13th home run for a 2-1 lead [VIDEO].

So it was up to the bullpen, which has been so good recently. Ryan Pressly entered to throw the seventh and immediately allowed a leadoff single to McCutchen, but then induced Bryan Reynolds to hit into a double play. That was good! Two more singles allowed by Pressly — not so much. He recovered to strike out Henry Davis to end the inning.

Drew Pomeranz threw the eighth and briefly had Craig Counsell and the trainer come to the mound — not quite sure why — but Pomeranz threw one practice pitch and stayed in the game, completing a scoreless inning.

Daniel Palencia entered for the save chance and got the first two outs quickly, before allowing a single.

Then he struck out Ke’Bryan Hayes to end the game [VIDEO].

For the second time in this series, the Cubs and Pirates finished things quickly. At two hours, 10 minutes, it was the second-fastest Cubs game of the year, behind Thursday’s 2:07.

There were also some outstanding defensive plays by Cubs in this game, by Hoerner, Swanson and Matt Shaw, but unfortunately, I don’t have any video to show you. Just thought the defense deserved a mention.

Here are some postgame comments from Swanson — about Cubs pitching:

Here’s Boyd on his pickoff move:

And so, after a fine performance like this:

At the time this recap posted, the Cardinals were leading the Brewers 2-0 early in their game. If that score holds up the Cubs will have their division lead increase to 5½ games over Milwaukee and remain six games ahead of St. Louis.

The Cubs will go for the series win Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Colin Rea will start for the Cubs and Mitch Keller will go for the Pirates. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.