Ryan O’Hearn picked a good day for his biggest swing. The first baseman celebrated his 33rd birthday with a grand slam, and the Pirates rode the early power to an 8-7 win over the Cubs on Sunday, salvaging the finale to avoid a three-game sweep.
O’Hearn’s slam to center in the third inning pushed Pittsburgh ahead 7-1 and capped a run of long balls that had been building. The inning before, a pair of rookies went deep, with Esmerlyn Valdez leading off with a home run and Shawn Ross following with a two-run shot for the first of his career. It was O’Hearn’s fourth career grand slam and his second this season, and his 17th home run matched the career high for the nine-year veteran.
The rookies kept turning heads. Valdez now has 14 homers in only 37 games, while Ross, a catcher, was making his first big-league start after Friday’s call-up from Triple-A Indianapolis. All three homers came at the expense of Jameson Taillon, who has now surrendered 25 home runs across just 76 innings this season. Taillon lasted four innings, gave up seven runs on six hits, and fell to 2-6 while stretching a winless run to nine starts.
Braxton Ashcraft carried the load on the other side, working six innings and allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts to improve to 10-4. Brandon Lowe led the offense with three of Pittsburgh’s 11 hits, and Valdez and Nick Gonzales each added two.
Chicago made it interesting late. Seiya Suzuki’s two-run homer with one out in the ninth pulled the Cubs within a run, and they got two hits apiece from Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, rookie Pedro Ramirez, and Dansby Swanson. Mason Montgomery shut the door from there for his second save.
