Daniel Palencia’s 1-1 four-seam fastball to Jack Suwinski was clocked at 101 mph.
It left Wrigley Field at an exit velocity of 102.
Suwinski played the anti-hero in his hometown, as the William H. Taft High School graduate smacked a solo home run 376 feet into the left-field seats in the ninth inning to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon.
The Pirates (52-71) started the three-game series by snapping a five-game losing streak against NL Central opponents, losing two to the Cincinnati Reds before being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Rookie right-hander Braxton Ashcraft made his first five-inning start, allowing one run on three hits without a walk and four strikeouts. His four-seam fastball sat at 97.6 mph, touching 98.7, and he threw 41 of his 61 pitches for strikes with nine whiffs and nine called strikes.
The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, when Nick Gonzales drew a two-out walk and scored on Andrew McCutchen’s double to the right-field corner. Cubs starter Colin Rea hit Suwinski with a pitch to put runners on first and second but got Jared Triolo on a swinging strikeout to escape.
The Cubs tied the score in the bottom of the fourth. Seiya Suzuki hit a leadoff double to left then scored on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s two-out single to right. Crow-Armstrong was thrown out at second base by right fielder Bryan Reynolds to end the inning.
The Pirates got a bad break in the fifth. Henry Davis hit a sharp grounder down the third base line but it hit third base umpire Clint Vondrak and stopped, allowing Matt Shaw to throw Davis out at second base. Ronny Simon drew a two-out walk and stole second base but Rea got Spencer Horwitz swinging at a 2-2 slider low and inside.
It was the fifth strikeout for Colin Rea, who allowed one run on three hits and two walks on 87 pitches over five innings before being replaced.
The breaks went the Pirates’ way in the seventh, when Triolo singled to right, stole second and then scored on a two-out double by Isaiah Kiner-Falefa to the left-center gap for a 2-1 lead.
But the Cubs tied it again in the bottom of the inning. It started with Evan Sisk, acquired from Kansas City in the Bailey Falter trade and recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis, hitting Crow-Armstrong with a pitch.
Isaac Mattson replaced Sisk but gave up a single to Nico Hoerner. Dansby Swanson’s sacrifice bunt spun away from catcher Henry Davis for a single to fill the bases. Matt Shaw hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Crow-Armstrong to make it 2-2.
In the eighth, Ian Happ drew a two-out, full-count walk against Mattson, who was relieved by Dennis Santana. On his third pitch, Davis threw out Happ while attempting to steal second to end the inning.
Suwinski’s swing gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth. Crow-Armstrong hit a leadoff single but slid past second base on a steal and was tagged out by Triolo, as the 2024 Gold Glove winner fielded Davis’ short-hop throw to the edge of the grass. Santana (4-4) got Hoerner to fly out to left and Swanson to ground out to short for the win.