Francisco Liriano left the game in the third inning due to “left side discomfort” and the game seemed to fall out of hand after that as the Cubs defeated the Pirates 7-3 on Gregory Polanco’s debut game in the black and gold.
Liriano didn’t get out of the gates the way he wanted as he allowed a one out single to Junior Lake and then left a changeup up to Anthony Rizzo that he sent into the Clemente seats.
After that, Liriano settled down retiring seven of eight batters before leaving the game three pitches into the fourth inning.
“I just threw that one pitch and felt discomfort on the left side,” said Liriano. “I’m going to have a MRI tomorrow to see what it is.”
Jeanmar Gomez inherited a 2-1 count to Anthony Rizzo and gave up a double over the head of Starling Marte, who took a bad route to the line drive and misplayed it. Darwin Barney then doubled him home with two out on a shot down the line.
The Pirates fought back with two runs in the third and one in the fourth. Polanco singled to the opposite field with one out in the third –his first career Major League hit — and Andrew McCutchen followed with a shot into the Cubs bullpen to tie the game at two.
With the Pirates down 3-2 in the fourth, Jordy Mercer reached on a fielders choice — Marte was thrown out running too far from second after Cubs starter Travis Wood made a nice stab of Mercer’s grounder up the middle — and then scored on Josh Harrison’s sac fly.
Casey Sadler then came in for the Pirates in a long-relief role, but didn’t far too well as he gave up four runs in 2 2/3 innings of work. In the sixth, Sadler issued a walk and hit by pitch to begin the inning then gave up a 2 RBI double to pinch-hitter Luis Valbuena.
The Cubs got two more in the seventh when Lake scored on a double by Rizzo. It was a fly ball to right-center that Polanco was able to track down, but the ball hit the hand of his glove and bounced away. Castro finished the scoring with a RBI single.
“I just was running and I couldn’t catch it,” said Polanco on the double.
The Pirates had their chances late, but instead they left four runners on base as well as a baserunning error by Marte after leading off the sixth. Mercer hit a high popup to short that Marte apparently lost track of and couldn’t get the correct help to get him back to first.
The Pirates also had a shot in the eighth after the first two batters reached. Mercer then struck out and Clint Barmes grounded into an inning-ending double play with Pedro Alvarez on deck.
“We had an opportunity to push on [Wood] in the fourth in particular and didn’t get that done,” said manager Clint Hurdle. “After that, he just stayed away and kept us away from the plate. We got on, but couldn’t capitalize.”
Polanco finished 1-for-5 with a run scored and a strikeout in his Major League debut.
“It was good and I was very excited and I was so proud of myself,” said Polanco. “I just enjoyed the game today. I know we lost but it was my first game. I was so excited to play.”
Final Score: Cubs 7, Pirates 3.
Starters Lines
Liriano (ND): 3+ IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 K’s, 1 HR. 55 Pitches (36 Strikes).
Wood (W, 6-5): 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K’s, 1 HR. 102 Pitches (65 Strikes).
These two will be back at it tomorrow evening for the third game of the four-game set.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(RHP) Brandon Cumpton (PIT): 1-2, 6.51 ERA
(RHP) Jason Hammel (CHC): 6-3, 2.53 ERA
First pitch is set for 7:05.
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(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
