The Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates started out playing a normal baseball game on Monday night, but it ended up as a wacky, wild affair that took 13 innings and more than five hours. It featured three Cubs comebacks and the same player being thrown out at the plate two separate times in extra innings.
The second game in this Cubs-Pirates series*is Tuesday’s Free MLB Game of the Day on Yahoo Sports, which means you can stream the game for free on on the Yahoo Sports app, Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index, video home and this very post. Local blackouts apply, per MLB rules. First pitch is at 8:05 p.m.
For a game to last that long and be that weird, something unexpected has to happen to kick it all into motion. That unexpected thing was Jake Arrieta, 2015 NL Cy Young Winner, getting tagged for six runs in 7.1 innings. And it’s easy to give up that many runs if most of them are coming via the home run. Arrieta allowed two homers, a solo shot from Josh Bell and a three-run jack from Gregory Polanco. To say that’s unexpected would be a huge understatement.
Down 6-3, the Cubs had to make up that deficit if they wanted a shot at winning. They started their comeback in the eighth*with a double and a homer to quickly cut their deficit by two. The ninth inning saw the Cubs tie it with a solo homer from Jorge Soler, and so the battle entered extra innings with the score tied 6-6.
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And it was a battle. Cubs shortstop Javy Baez was the try-hard of the night, notching four hits and twice attempting to win the game in extras only to be thrown out at home both times. With the bases loaded in the tenth inning, Anthony Rizzo grounded to first base, and Pirates first baseman Sean Rodriguez stepped on the bag and then threw home to get the sliding Baez. Baez was ruled out, but it was really close. The umpires reviewed it but the call stood — Baez was out, and the game kept on going.
It happened again in the 12th inning after Baez tripled and tried to score on a shallow fly ball to left field hit by Addison Russell.*The umpires reviewed that call, too, and once again Baez was ruled out at home.
The Pirates managed to finally score a run on a sac fly in the top of the 13th inning, and they led 7-6. But of course, the Cubs still had to bat in the bottom of the 13th. And that’s where it all ended (and pretty quickly, too). With Jeff Locke on the mound, the Cubs hit three straight singles to tie the game.
The Cubs try to rip off the jersey of Miguel Montero after he hit a walkoff RBI single. (Getty Images) It almost seemed like the game would continue on, the score tied 7-7, both teams playing far into the night in a never ending back-and-forth. But thanks to Miguel Montero, it did end. With Kris Bryant on third, Locke intentionally walked Ben Zobrist to bring up Montero. And Montero made him pay when he knocked a single to score Bryant, breaking the tie yet again and ending the game 8-7. Montero had to run away from his teammates, who were trying to tear his shirt off in celebration (I’m not sure when shirt-tearing became a celebratory activity, but okay).
The Cubs wanted to win, but they also probably wanted to go home. They’d just ended a nine-game West Coast road trip, and had gotten back to Chicago late the previous night. But they gutted it out for the win. The Pirates had a lot more to gain (or lose) than sleep. They’re in a tight battle with the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild card spot, and this loss didn’t help. Especially when they were so close to winning so many times! But hey — that’s baseball.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher