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CHICAGO -- Brandon Lowe hit a tiebreaking two-run single in Pittsburgh's three-run sixth inning, and the Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 on Sunday to avoid a sweep of their weekend series.
Bryan Reynolds had two hits for Pittsburgh, including an RBI single in the first. Carmen Mlodzinski, Luke Weaver and Mason Montgomery combined for 3ª hitless innings in relief of Bubba Chandler (8-9).
The Pirates (75-75) closed out a 4-2 stay in Chicago. They swept the White Sox before dropping two of three against the Cubs.
Miguel Amaya homered for Chicago, and Michael Busch had two hits. Matthew Boyd (8-5) allowed four runs and seven hits in 5• innings in his second straight loss.
The Cubs (83-67) dropped into a tie with Philadelphia for the top spot in the NL wild-card standings.
Montgomery worked a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances. The Pirates had a 3-2 lead on Saturday before a wild Gregory Soto surrendered two runs in the eighth inning of a 4-3 loss.
Chicago jumped in front in the series finale on Amaya's sixth homer, a two-run drive to left with two out in the fifth. It was his first homer since Aug. 16.
Pittsburgh responded with three runs in the sixth. Reynolds reached on a leadoff walk and scored on Nick Gonzales' ground-rule double. With one out and the bases loaded, Lowe made it 4-2 when he drove in Rafael Flores Jr. and Gonzales with a pinch-hit liner to center off Aaron Civale.
Chicago closed to 4-3 on Nico Hoerner's grounder to second in the bottom half. But the Cubs left the bases loaded when Pedro Ramirez flied to right against Mlodzinski, ending the inning.
Saturday setback
Alex Bregman scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning when Soto hit Hoerner with a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs, and the Cubs rallied to beat the Pirates 4-3 on Saturday.
Before Hoerner's at-bat, Soto walked pinch-hitter Matt Shaw to force in Pedro Ramirez from third to tie it at 3 as the Cubs won their second straight. Soto relieved after seven strong innings from Paul Skenes, who left with a 3-2 lead.
Skenes settled in after giving up solo shots to Michael Busch and Ramirez off high fastballs as the Pirates dropped a second straight after winning nine of 11. Ramirez led off the eighth with a double off Soto (6-5), who allowed two runs on one hit, two walks and hit two batters.
Ryan Rolison (9-1) got five outs for the win. Ryan Zeferjahn got the final out of the ninth for his sixth save.
Ryan O'Hearn hit his career-best 18th homer of the season, a three-run drive in the sixth, to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. O'Hearn connected for the first time since being reinstated on Friday following six weeks on the injured list (left quad strain) and upped his career-high RBI total this season to 72.
Skenes allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings while striking out four and walking one.
Cubs starter Clay Holmes cruised through five scoreless innings. The right-hander allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits in 5ª innings. He struck out six.
Busch hit an opposite-field homer in the first for a 1-0 Chicago lead. Ramirez pulled a drive high into the right-center bleachers in the third to make it 2-0.
Weekend notes
The Pirates placed outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez on the 10-day injured list and recalled outfielder Ronny Simon from Triple-A.