Christopher Morel hit a walk-off single to score Cody Bellinger from second base in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Chicago Cubs beat the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Bellinger hit a ground-rule double with one out against David Bednar (2-3) and slid home safely ahead of the tag by catcher Joey Bart on Morel’s single to center field. The call was confirmed after review.
Bellinger had two hits for Chicago, which had lost the first two games of the four-game series. Hector Neris (4-0) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the win.
The dramatic finish followed a dynamic pitchers’ duel between the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga and the Pirates’ Bailey Falter.
Falter needed just 60 pitches to get through the first six innings, and only two Cubs batters reached base during that stretch.
Morel drew a leadoff walk in the second inning but was promptly erased when Mike Tauchman grounded into a double play.
Falter allowed his first hit in the fourth inning when second baseman Nick Gonzales lost Patrick Wisdom’s popup in the sun. But Wisdom was thrown out attempting to reach second base on the play.
Falter was replaced by Colin Holderman with two outs in the seventh after the Cubs put two runners on. Michael Busch walked to load the bases before Holderman struck out Wisdom on three pitches.
Falter gave up three hits, with two walks and two strikeouts, on 83 pitches over 7 2/3 innings.
Imanaga matched Falter’s effort with another stellar outing. He yielded four hits to go along with one walk and seven strikeouts over seven scoreless innings. Imanaga lowered his ERA to 0.84, which is the lowest in a pitcher’s first nine career starts in major league history.
Fernando Valenzuela is the only other pitcher to post an ERA under 1.00 through the first nine starts of a career since earned runs became an official stat in both the American League and National League in 1913. Valenzuela had a 0.91 ERA through his first nine outings in 1981.
Pittsburgh threatened with two outs in the seventh inning on consecutive singles by Jared Triolo and Bart, but Imanaga struck out Michael A. Taylor to strand both baserunners.
–Field Level Media
