Baez snubbed at plate by Pirates twice

CHICAGO — The Pirates couldn’t keep the Cubs away from home plate all night, not after both clock hands on the Wrigley Field scoreboard pointed straight up and Monday gave way to Tuesday. But for a while, it seemed like they might.

Twice in extra innings, Pittsburgh managed to keep Javier Baez from scoring what would have been the game-winning run on a play at the plate. But it wasn’t enough, as the Cubs eventually stormed back to win, 8-7, in 13 innings.

“That just shows what this game was about,” Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison said. “Neither team giving in. Taking chances on both sides of the ball.”

And what does it reveal about the Cubs that they hung around and won the knock-down, drag-out affair after those two setbacks?

“We’re not going to stop playing hard,” Baez said. “This is a team that’s trying to win the World Series and we’re not going to give up, no matter how many runs we’re up or down.”

When the game went into extra innings, it fell to Pirates left-hander Jeff Locke, a starter bumped into a multi-inning relief role earlier this month. Pittsburgh had no safety net for Locke, having used five relievers before him with two others unavailable.

So when Locke toed the rubber to face one of the Majors’ …

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