CHICAGO — The Cubs high-powered offense has been a talking point to start the season.

That’ll happen when you’ve scored the second-most runs in baseball.

But this team isn’t just blowing teams out to win ball games. No, as they showed in the four-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates they take more pride in finding small edges to beat opponents.

[Cubs Takeaways: What we learned in walk-off win vs. Pirates]

Sometimes that results in extra outs that turn into elongated innings and more and more runs. On a day like Sunday, it meant scraping together key runs to win the games.

“I think it hopefully highlights some of the things you try to emphasize everything matters,” manager Craig Counsell said after the Cubs’ 3-2 extra innings win over the Pirates. “Grabbing an advantage wherever you can be the difference.”

Those moments can happen at any time – as the Cubs saw Sunday. They can occur in the first inning like when Ian Happ swiped second base and then advanced to third on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s groundout to second. He scored a batter later, giving the Cubs a run and an extra out. He doesn’t swipe second and Crow-Armstrong’s ground ball is potentially a double play – or Seiya Suzuki’s groundout the next at-bat is the inning ending double.

Instead, it gave the Cubs an extra plate appearance – Michael Busch doubled and then Dansby Swanson singled. A two-run deficit turned into a tie game.

“It happens at every point in the game,” Counsell said. “I think that’s a really important thing.”

The Cubs needed just one run in the 10th inning after Chris Flexen held the Pirates scoreless in the top of the frame.

Dansby Swanson on Nico Hoerner’s diving catch to keep the game tied in extras.

“I don’t think people realize how hard that is.” pic.twitter.com/zRvuTbacXS

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) June 15, 2025

That seems easier said than done with the courtesy runner to begin extra innings, but it’s not a given either. Vidal Bruján pinch ran for Justin Turner as the courtesy runner and the Pirates walked pinch hitter Kyle Tucker. Their defense played in for a bunt from Jon Berti.

The veteran instead swung and fouled the first pitch. Bruján, savvy baserunner was able to use that to time his jump on the next pitch and swipe third base on a double steal. That eliminated the double play for Pittsburgh and meant a fly ball could win it.

Berti struck out, but Happ took an 0-2 splitter from David Bednar that hung up in the zone for a single to right field to walk it off.

The Cubs were facing a stout pitching staff this series. Pittsburgh is 15 games under .500, but their rotation is no joke – and the Cubs faced three good arms this series in Andrew Heaney, Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller. Even Mike Burrows, Saturday’s starter, pitched 5.1 innings of one-run ball. Couple that with some less-than-favorable weather and the Cubs knew these four games would be tight, despite what the standings say.

All four games were decided by one run and no team scored more than three runs in a game.

“Going in kind of expected a series like this, expected low scoring and that means you have to make plays, whether it be on defense,” Counsell said. “You have to make pitches, you have to throw strikes, run the bases well. Those things get highlighted and emphasized in series like this, conditions like this.”

The Cubs did that. It’s been their identity this year and makes them believe they can continue to stack wins throughout the season.

“It just gives you the confidence that you’re never out of the game,” Happ said. “I think we felt that throughout the year. Whether we’re down early and we’re in a spot where we score some runs and come back or whether it’s a tight game all the way through and we feel like we have a chance to win at some point.

“And I think it just keeps reinstalling that confidence.”