ARCHIVE July 26, 2026
July 26, 2026 · NL Cent

Chicago Cubs vs Pittsburgh Pirates

July 26, 2026PNC ParkPartly Cloudy 79°F · 3 mph, Out To LF
AWAY
Chicago Cubs
59-46
7
vs
HOME
Pittsburgh Pirates
54-52
8

Game Highlights

Published July 26, 2026 · Source: MLB

Scoring summary

INN BATTER PLAY SCORE
T2 Dansby Swanson Dansby Swanson singles on a ground ball to left fielder Tyler Callihan. Michael Conforto scores. Pedro Ramírez to 3rd. Dansby Swanson to 2nd. CHC 1, PIT 0
B2 Esmerlyn Valdez Esmerlyn Valdez homers (14) on a fly ball to left center field. CHC 1, PIT 1
B2 Shawn Ross Shawn Ross homers (1) on a fly ball to left field. Ryan O'Hearn scores. CHC 1, PIT 3
B3 Ryan O'Hearn Ryan O'Hearn hits a grand slam (17) to center field. Brandon Lowe scores. Bryan Reynolds scores. Esmerlyn Valdez scores. CHC 1, PIT 7
T4 Carson Kelly Carson Kelly grounds out, third baseman Nick Gonzales to first baseman Ryan O'Hearn. Nico Hoerner scores. Michael Conforto to 3rd. CHC 2, PIT 7
T4 Pedro Ramírez Pedro Ramírez singles on a ground ball to center fielder Jake Mangum. Michael Conforto scores. CHC 3, PIT 7
T4 Pete Crow-Armstrong Pete Crow-Armstrong triples (6) on a fly ball to center fielder Jake Mangum. Pedro Ramírez scores. CHC 4, PIT 7
B5 Esmerlyn Valdez Esmerlyn Valdez singles on a line drive to right fielder Michael Conforto. Brandon Lowe scores. CHC 4, PIT 8
T8 Nico Hoerner Nico Hoerner singles on a sharp line drive to left fielder Jake Mangum. Michael Busch scores. Ian Happ to 2nd. CHC 5, PIT 8
T9 Seiya Suzuki Seiya Suzuki homers (18) on a fly ball to left field. Dansby Swanson scores. CHC 7, PIT 8

Box score

  123456789 R
CHC 010300012 7
PIT 034010000 8

Pitching & bullpen

How the game was pitched — the starters, the bullpen sequence and each arm's role, and the pitch counts behind them.

Cubs AWAY 7

Jameson Taillon started for Cubs, leaving trailing 4–7. Out of the bullpen, Ryan Rolison took the roughest line.

workload · innings pitched
  • Jameson Taillon Starter 4.0 69 7 3 L
    Pitch-by-pitch: what Jameson Taillon threw
    CSW 20% 1st-pitch strike 47% 3.6 pitches/PA
    Pitch#%WhiffCSFoulBallIn play
    Four-Seam Fastball 18 26% 1 3 3 8 3
    Changeup 16 23% 1 1 3 5 6
    Cutter 11 16% 2 2 2 2 3
    Sweeper 10 14% 1 3 1 4 1
    Curveball 8 12% 0 0 2 5 1
    Sinker 6 9% 0 0 1 5 0
  • Ryan Rolison Middle 1.0 23 1 0
  • Aaron Civale Reliever 2.0 27 0 3
  • Trent Thornton Middle 1.0 19 0 2
Pirates HOME 8

Braxton Ashcraft started for Pirates, leaving with a 8–4 lead. Out of the bullpen, Mason Montgomery took the roughest line.

workload · innings pitched
  • Braxton Ashcraft Starter 6.0 93 4 5 W
    Pitch-by-pitch: what Braxton Ashcraft threw
    CSW 25% 1st-pitch strike 65% 3.6 pitches/PA
    Pitch#%WhiffCSFoulBallIn play
    Curveball 30 32% 6 3 5 13 3
    Slider 28 30% 3 5 9 2 9
    Four-Seam Fastball 26 28% 0 3 7 11 5
    Sinker 9 10% 0 3 1 3 2
  • Carmen Mlodzinski Middle 2.0 33 1 2
  • Mason Montgomery Setup 1.0 25 2 2 SV

Where the game turned

2 runs Bottom 2nd · off Taillon
  • Ross HR (2)

Batting lines

AWAY · CHC
BATTER ABRHRBIBBK AVGOBPSLGOPS NOTES
Pete Crow-Armstrong CF 5 0 1 1 0 2 .290 .388 .545 .933 3B
Seiya Suzuki DH 5 1 1 2 0 2 .265 .354 .473 .827 HR (18)
Michael Busch 1B 4 1 2 0 1 0 .247 .368 .405 .773 2B
Ian Happ LF 5 0 1 0 0 2 .220 .333 .425 .758
Nico Hoerner 2B 4 1 2 1 0 0 .247 .312 .337 .649
Michael Conforto RF 3 2 1 0 1 0 .237 .326 .481 .807 2B
Carson Kelly C 4 0 0 1 0 3 .257 .349 .373 .722
Pedro Ramírez 3B 4 1 2 1 0 0 .305 .348 .451 .799
Dansby Swanson SS 4 1 2 1 0 0 .220 .299 .413 .712
HOME · PIT
BATTER ABRHRBIBBK AVGOBPSLGOPS NOTES
Jake Mangum LF 4 0 1 0 0 2 .303 .351 .371 .722
Brandon Lowe 2B 4 2 3 0 0 0 .246 .316 .474 .790 2B
Bryan Reynolds DH 4 1 1 0 0 1 .269 .383 .453 .836 2B
Esmerlyn Valdez RF 3 2 2 2 1 1 .293 .385 .707 1.092 HR (14)
Ryan O'Hearn 1B 2 2 1 4 2 0 .279 .344 .469 .813 HR (17)
Jacob Gonzalez SS 4 0 0 0 0 0 .236 .300 .391 .691
Shawn Ross C 4 1 1 2 0 2 .200 .200 .800 1.000 HR (1)
Billy Cook CF 1 0 0 0 0 1 .200 .200 .267 .467
Nick Gonzales 3B 4 0 2 0 0 0 .313 .369 .411 .780
Tyler Callihan LF 3 0 0 0 0 1 .222 .297 .411 .708

Pitching lines

AWAY · CHC
PITCHER IPHRERBBKHR NPERA DEC
Jameson Taillon 4.0 6 7 7 2 3 3 69 5.92 L
Ryan Rolison 1.0 3 1 1 1 0 0 23 2.70
Aaron Civale 2.0 1 0 0 0 3 0 27 5.35
Trent Thornton 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 0 19 2.61
HOME · PIT
PITCHER IPHRERBBKHR NPERA DEC
Braxton Ashcraft 6.0 7 4 4 2 5 0 93 4.05 W
Carmen Mlodzinski 2.0 3 1 1 0 2 0 33 3.36
Mason Montgomery 1.0 2 2 2 0 2 1 25 4.04 SV

Manager comparison

AWAY · CHC
Craig Counsell
Craig Counsell
Lineup 3.3 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.9 R
HOME · PIT
Don Kelly
Don Kelly
Lineup 4.0 R Bunts 0.6 R IBBs 2.8 R

Recent form

AWAY · CHC
7-3 W4 +20 run diff
WWWWLWLWLW
HOME · PIT
2-8 L3 -17 run diff
LLLWLWLLLL

Season series: 2-1 with CHC listed first across 3 prior meetings.

Keep reading

How RunsLeft analyzes games

Standard content on this page comes from the MLB Stats API. The pitching analysis describes how the game was pitched — the starter's line, the bullpen sequence and each arm's role (opener, bulk, setup, closer), pitch counts as a fatigue signal, and the leverage context where the game turned. Reliever roles are inferred from how the manager used each arm up to that date. It describes structure and constraints; it does not grade the manager.

Read the full methodology.

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