The abiding theme for the Cubs during this current winning streak has stressed confidence and humility.
They leaned heavily on both those qualities Friday during an emotional 11-10 roller-coaster victory over the Pirates in 12 innings.
The Cubs squandered leads of 7-1 and 10-5 as their bullpen yielded four runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to let the Pirates tie the game 10-10.
The bizarre play in the 12th that won it defied all logic, even historically strange Cubs logic.
With the bases loaded and one out, Matt Szczur lofted a soft, shallow fly to right. Gregory Polanco had performed the exact same play off Szczur’s bat to perfection in the 10th inning to throw out Starlin Castro at the plate by a mile. This time Polanco somehow stumbled, staggered, lost his footing and saw the ball drop for a game-winning hit.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Szczur said. “I saw the whole thing unfold. I was running to first base and I put my head down for a second. I came back up and saw it. …”
Cubs manager Joe Maddon saw his team win its fifth straight before a crowd of 33,617 at Wrigley Field.
“Deja vu all over again. Unbelievable,” Maddon said of the final play.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle could hardly believe his eyes, either.
“It looked to me like (Polanco) got to the ball without (a) problem,” Hurdle said. “He didn’t have to go to get to the ball, and then he made a little move to his left and crossed his feet. And that just took him out of the play, took him down to the ground.”
The Cubs appeared poised to win in the 10th when they similarly had the bases loaded with one out. In this instance Polanco made the catch of Szczur’s shallow fly and threw out Castro easily at the plate.
Friday was a perfect example of what Maddon has been espousing when it comes to displaying both confidence and humility.
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“I’ve always liked humility,” Maddon said. “If you have a humble group that just goes out there … like a metronome, just keep it beating and stay with the process, stay with the routine and expect to win.”
Maddon loved the victory, but he was not pleased with the performance of his relievers as Jason Motte and Pedro Strop each gave up two runs and closer Hector Rondon was touched for the tying run in the ninth.
The five-game winning streak is the Cubs’ first since June 3-7 last year. The Cubs last won six in a row during a seven game winning streak July 31-Aug. 6, 2011.
The four-game sweep of the Mets that preceded Friday’s series-opening triumph over the Pirates really made Maddon happy.
“We won (the first) three games in a four-game series. A lot of times groups would be satisfied …” Maddon said. “But you won the first three, so why would you be satisfied with three out of four? … To be a real playoff team, you have to win all four. The goal is always to win the series, absolutely. But when you put yourself in position to get greedy, go ahead and be greedy. … The lesson learned from that is don’t be satisfied … go for the whole enchilada when you have that opportunity.”
And a little good fortune doesn’t hurt, either.
Twitter @kicker34