The Cubs slim playoff hopes continued to dim Tuesday night at Wrigley Field as the Pirates shut them out and won the series. Chicago had three excellent scoring chances early in the game against Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes, but they failed to come through and the offense dried up after that in a 5-0 defeat.
Both starting pitchers, Skenes and Kyle Hendricks, had tons of traffic on the bases early but were able to escape and keep the game scoreless into the 3rd. The Bucs broke through on Hendricks in that frame on an Andrew McCutchen sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Rowdy Tellez to go ahead 2-0.