Another strong outing for Wil Crowe, but Pirates' bats stay cool in loss to Cubs

May 9—The Pittsburgh Pirates lost another game, but are they gaining themselves another viable starting pitcher?

Wil Crowe turned in a third consecutive encouraging start since being put into the rotation, but the offense struggled again in a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

Crowe allowed six baserunners — four singles, a walk and a hit batsman — in lasting a career-high six innings, relying on a four-pitch mix led by four-seam fastballs. The 26-year-old right-hander — one of two players acquired in the Josh Bell trade on Christmas Eve — had five strikeouts.

But the Pirates managed just seven hits and two extra-base hits against former teammate Trevor Williams and three relievers. They have only eight runs over their past six games and are 1-8 since nudging over .500 at 12-11 on April 27.

"Full repertoire today," manager Derek Shelton said of Crowe. In Crowe's prior start May 2, "He pitched with just his fastball. Today, he pitched with everything. Really good outing. Six strong innings. Did a nice job with their lineup, kind of minimized some damage in the first. Solid outings."

Ka'ai Tom's fifth major league hit in 42 plate appearances was a fourth-inning homer to center with Erik Gonzalez aboard that gave the Pirates their only lead.

It was brief, though, as Willson Contreras scored in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly to Wilmer Difo, who double-clutched on his throw to the plate. Difo was starting in center in place of of Bryan Reynolds, whom manager Derek Shelton said was "a little sore."

The winning run also came on a close play at the plate in the seventh when Matt Duffy's bloop single to right was just enough to drive in Jason Heyward from second. Phillip Evans' throw was in time, but Heyward wisely made a wide slide to avoid the tag of Michael Perez.

Sam Howard (2-2) walked Heyward to open the inning.

The Cubs' only other run came when Crowe hit Contreras with a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. But Crowe retired the next eight he faced and allowed only two singles over his next 5 2/3 innings.

"Getting comfortable through that first inning is a big thing for me," Crowe said. "So getting out of there with one run and knowing like, 'Hey, let's go. It's game time now.' That's a big thing, the comfortability of seeing guys and pitching to guys and getting through lineups. That's all going to come."

According to MLB Statcast, none of the hits against Crowe were struck with an exit velocity of more than 92.2 mph. For six innings, that's excellent.

"When I'm able to command my off-speed," Crowe said, "and not only able to command it, but it's good and it's doing what it's supposed to, what it does itself when I throw it right, it keeps guys honest."

Adam Frazier extended his hitting streak to nine games by going 3 for 4 with a double, and Gonzalez had two hits.

The Pirates lost first baseman Colin Moran to a left-groin injury suffered after catching a line drive and lunging to double off a runner during the bottom of the first inning.

Todd Frazier replaced Moran and went 0 for 4, including a pop out against Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel to end the game with the tying run aboard. Frazier, who fell to 1 for 31 on the season, left three men on base.

A Rule 5 pick acquired last month, Tom has reached safely in five of his past six starts. He's been in the lineup each of the Pirates' past four games.

Tom called his first MLB home run — off a low fastball from Williams on a 2-2 count — "one of the best feelings in the world."

"Just finally getting the official home run," the 26-year-old said. "This is one of the more iconic stadiums in the big leagues, so its nice to hit one at Wrigley Field."

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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .