Brown Faces Mlodzinski as Cubs Vs Pirates Opens at PNC Park
Ben Brown is set to start Monday’s cubs vs pirates opener at PNC Park, with Carmen Mlodzinski on the other side as the teams open a four-game series on May 25. Chicago arrives on an eight-game skid, while Pittsburgh has dropped six of its last nine.
Brown and Mlodzinski
Brown enters at 1-2 with a 2.09 ERA, a 0.983 WHIP and a 2.36 FIP. Mlodzinski is 4-3 with a 3.96 ERA, a 1.400 WHIP and a 2.98 FIP. Those numbers make the opener the sharpest pitching matchup in the series, and it gives Chicago a chance to stop the slide in its first 2026 trip to PNC Park.
The Cubs also have a clear target beyond the first game. A sweep would push their regular-season win total at Pittsburgh to 600 since the rivalry began in 1887, and they already have 596 wins there. Their last four-game sweep in Pittsburgh came Aug. 1-4, 2011.
PNC Park History
Pittsburgh has handled Chicago better in this season’s first three meetings, leading 2-1. The Pirates took the opener on April 10 at Wrigley Field on Bryan Reynolds’ two-run home run, then won the second game 4-3 in 11 innings for their third extra-inning victory of the season. Chicago answered in the third game with a walk-off single by Carson Kelly.
The wider series history is less even than this year’s split has suggested. The Pirates went 3-10 against the Cubs last season, and in 2025 they did not score more than four runs in any of their 13 games against Chicago before this year’s 7-6 win snapped that pattern. At home, Pittsburgh managed one win against the Cubs last season.
Ashcraft and Tuesday
Tuesday brings Braxton Ashcraft against a TBD Cubs starter. Ashcraft is 3-2 with a 2.89 ERA, a 1.027 WHIP and a 3.16 FIP after his last outing, when he threw seven innings, struck out nine batters and allowed one earned run.
That keeps the series tilted toward the pitching staff on both sides. The Pirates’ remaining scheduled starters are Bubba Chandler and Paul Skenes, giving this four-game set a clean rotation line from top to bottom.
