Dansby Swanson hit a grand slam to finish an eight-run sixth inning, and the Chicago Cubs stole eight bases — their highest total in more than 100 years — on their way to an 18-8 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.
Swanson’s grand slam came off Domingo German and was the third of his nine-year career, with two of those coming this season. It pushed the Cubs’ lead to 9-2. He also hit a grand slam on April 24 against Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti.
The Cubs hadn’t stolen eight bases in a game since 1913.
Rookie center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong led with three steals, increasing his season total to 26 in 93 games. He has only been caught once this year.
“I think we’ve done a good job all year of going into it with the mindset of being aggressive on the bases,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Against these guys, we’ve had a pretty good plan and you saw it today because guys were very aggressive.”
Ian Happ added two steals, while Nico Hoerner, Cody Bellinger, and Seiya Suzuki each had one. All eight steals came in eight attempts against catcher Yasmani Grandal, with seven of those occurring while starter Mitch Keller was pitching.
Chicago entered the game ranked eighth in the major leagues for stolen bases with 112.
“There wasn’t a lot that went right tonight, so I don’t know if I would highlight the stolen bases as being the issue,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “But, yeah, we’ve got to do a better job of holding runners.”
Miguel Amaya had a career-high four hits and four RBIs for the Cubs. His double drove in the first two runs in the big sixth inning to make it 5-2 before Suzuki hit a run-scoring single, Hoerner walked with the bases loaded, and Swanson hit his grand slam.
Amaya is 12 for 18 with three homers and 10 RBIs in his last five games.
Suzuki also contributed four of the Cubs’ 21 hits, and Crow-Armstrong added three more as Chicago set a season-high in runs. Cody Bellinger and Isaac Paredes each had two hits and two RBIs. Paredes also hit a solo home run in the eighth inning off Brady Feigl, extending the Cubs’ lead to 12-4.
“Having depth in the lineup one through nine is a big deal in the game today,” Swanson said. “Everyone’s contributing right now and there’s evidence of that over the last month, month and a half.”
The Cubs have a 15-8 record since July 31.
Jameson Taillon (9-8) won for the second time in seven starts. He gave up four runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings, with no walks and three strikeouts.
Keller (11-8) was taken out after four innings and 97 pitches. He dropped to 1-3 with a 5.05 ERA in his last eight starts. Keller allowed three runs, seven hits, and two walks. Pittsburgh had won six of its previous eight games.
German gave up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings.
“We did a nice job offensively tonight against a really good pitcher,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Look, if you knock the starter out in the fourth inning, that’s good offense. We had a lot of good at-bats, got on base, and made some things happen running the bases.”
Feigl, a left-hander, relieved German in the seventh inning and made his major-league debut 10 years after being signed as an undrafted free agent by Atlanta. The 33-year-old had spent the last two seasons in the independent Atlantic League before joining the Pirates this year and playing for Triple-A Indianapolis.
Feigl allowed six runs in 1 2/3 innings. First baseman Rowdy Tellez, pitching for the second time in three days, finished the game by getting the last two outs in the ninth.
Jared Triolo had two hits and two RBIs for the Pirates, and Connor Joe hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning off Jack Neely.
