Pittsburgh Pirates Drop Second In A Row To Chicago Cubs
By Larry Snyder
The Cubs pitching staff continued to keep the Pittsburgh Pirates offense in check as they downed the Bucs 6-2 Tuesday at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
More from Andrew McCutchen
- MLB Playoffs: Five things the Pirates need to do to qualify in 2018
- Pirates’ Huntington: Cutch trade “unlikely”
- Pirates: Cutch, Stop Being a Diva
- Pirates Preview: Angels in the Outfield
- Pittsburgh Pirates Vs. Miami Marlins On Clemente Day 2016 In PR
After dropping their second in a row, Clint Hurdle‘s squad saw their record fall to 11-10. Their longest losing streak is the three games they lost to the Reds in Cincinnati to begin the season.
Jeff Locke collected his first loss this season (2-1) as he did not make it out of the fourth inning for Pittsburgh. He allowed six runs, five of them earned, on eight hits while striking out five and walking three. The 6-foot, 195-pound lefthander threw 53 of his 86 pitches for strikes.
The Cubs scored all of their runs with two outs. It began in the second when Addison Russell doubled to left to bring home Starlin Castro from third base. Dexter Fowler singled on a ground ball to right that drove in Junior Lake and Russell.
It was Lake’s turn to add a run in the home half of the third as he doubled to left that drove in Castro from second.
Chicago put up two more runs in the fourth. Kris Bryant singled to left to bring home Anthony Rizzo from second. Castro drove a ground ball to right for a single that scored Jorge Soler.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Travis Wood (2-1) earned his second win of the season for the Cubs. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound lefthander was efficient as he struck out nine and walked none over seven innings. He delivered 62 of his 90 pitches for strikes.
Coming on in the eighth, Zac Rosscup did not surrender a hit while striking out one for Chicago. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound lefty fired 10 of his 17 pitches for strikes in facing three batters. Righthander Jason Motte needed just 10 pitches to retire the Bucs in order to close out the ninth.
The Pirates offense showed a little bit of life in the fourth when with two-out Starling Marte blasted his sixth home run of the season to deep left that scored Andrew McCutchen. Marte had two hits on the night.
The evening did see Neil Walker’s 10-game hitting streak come to a close. However, McCutchen’s ground ball single in the fourth means the center fielder is two hits shy of 1000 in his career. Corey Hart and Sean Rodriguez contributed one hit apiece.
The one bright spot on the mound for the Pirates was Jared Hughes in the eighth. The 6-foot-7, 245-pound righthander set down the Cubs in order as he hurled eight of his nine pitches for strikes.
Up Next: The Pirates and Cubs wind up their three-game set Wednesday. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. Chicago (12-7) will send righthander Kyle Hendricks (0-0, 5.74 ERA) to the mound and the Bucs will counter with Gerrit Cole (3-0, 2.19 ERA).
The 24-year-old will be making his fifth start of the season. His last start was a 4-1 victory against the Diamondbacks Friday in Arizona. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound righthander is 5-0 with a 3.48 ERA in five career starts against Chicago. The game will be on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
From The Clipboard: The time of the game was 2:51 and 29,915 were in attendance at Wrigley Field…Righthander Charlie Morton, who was on the disabled list at the end of Spring Training, is scheduled for a rehab assignment Saturday with the Class A-Advanced Bradenton Mauraders. He is to throw either seven innings or 90 pitches…The Pirates played their first night game at Wrigley Field Monday, June 26, 1989. Doug Drabek claimed a 2-1 victory over Greg Maddux.
Next: Alabama's Landon Collins a perfect fit for Steelers' needs