PITTSBURGH – They can talk about the hitting all they want and call up an army of Italian League power hitters.
But the Cubs will win or lose the National League Central Division this year because they pitch or because they don’t.
They proved that much Wednesday night when their $43 million closer blew the save as the Pirates scored twice in the ninth to walk off on the Cubs 6-5 at PNC Park.
With the brass back home calling the team’s play “unacceptable” and threatening “a ton of change,” the Cubs lost for the fifth time in the first six games of this three-city road trip and seventh time in nine games overall.