Wild-card hopes dimming, Cubs aim to bring out the bats vs. Pirates

The Chicago Cubs scored 99 runs during a 10-game stretch before seeing their offense struggle in the first two contests of a three-game series against the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Cubs (71-68) will look to find some pop at the plate on Wednesday night when they play the finale of their season series against the Pirates (65-73). The National League Central rivals have split the first 12 contests of the 13-game season series.

Chicago followed its recent surge on offense with a 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh on Monday and a 5-0 setback on Tuesday. The Cubs mustered just five hits and struck out 10 times against rookie phenom Paul Skenes and three relievers in the latter contest to fall 4 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the final wild-card spot in the National League.

"The first three innings, we played as good on offense as you can without scoring, unfortunately," Chicago manager Craig Counsell said. "We didn't really create opportunities after that.

"We didn't score, and that's not good enough."

The Cubs on Wednesday will turn to left-hander Shota Imanaga, who is bidding to win his third straight start.

Imanaga (11-3, 3.14 ERA) initially won four consecutive trips to the mound from April 13-May 1. He followed that by receiving three straight no-decisions, capped by a stellar outing in his lone career outing against Pittsburgh. He scattered four hits and struck out seven over seven scoreless innings on May 18.

Imanaga enters the series finale on the heels of allowing three runs on four hits in six innings of a 7-6 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday. The quality start was the second in a row and third in six appearances last month for Imanaga.

While the Cubs are experiencing some struggles in their bid for a playoff berth, the Pirates are relishing their role as spoiler. They have won three of their past four games.

Jared Triolo provided the big blow Tuesday with a three-run homer in the seventh inning. He has nine RBIs in the season series against Chicago.

"Pitchers held them to a zero. It was great playing defense behind them," Triolo told SportsNet Pittsburgh.

The Pirates hope right-hander Domingo German (0-0, 6.11 ERA) will follow suit when he starts on Wednesday.

German will return to the mound after allowing two runs on five hits in three innings in his team's 10-8 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Friday.

That performance came four days after he gave up eight runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings in an 18-8 shellacking by the Cubs. He has a 9.35 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against them.

Chicago received good news after the MRI on left-hander Justin Steele's sore elbow revealed encouraging results. The Cubs are cautiously optimistic in that regard and plan to continue to evaluate Steele's progress while seeking other opinions.

"We're probably halfway through kind of getting all the information, but so far, so good," Counsell said. "And just the way Justin feels, I think we're still in a pretty good place. We're not going to put him on the IL yet. It still may happen. But we'll kind of let all the results [come in], all the eyes get on it, and then see how he feels."

--Field Level Media