After finishing 2013 with an impressive 44-37 record away from PNC Park in the regular season, the Pirates (5-2) continued traveling well with a 7-6 victory at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night.
Starter Charlie Morton (0-0) went six innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and a walk. He mostly struggled against one hitter, Cubs SS Starlin Castro, who hit two home runs and drove in four in his team’s losing effort. Tony Watson (2-0) earned the win in relief, despite allowing a run that tied the game in the seventh.
The Pirates offense spotted the starter a quick four-run lead, when the entire lineup batted in the first inning against opposing starter Edwin Jackson (0-1). Pedro Alvarez doubled in two runs, Neil Walker singled home another and Travis Ishikawa hit a sacrifice fly to light up the scoreboard early in the evening.
Chicago answered with an RBI single by Emilio Bonifacio in the second and Castro’s three-run bomb in the third, tying the game at that point. Andrew McCutchen abruptly broke the tie with a run-scoring single in the fourth and a triple by Ishikawa in the next inning made it 6-4, Pirates.
Castro’s second homer of the night cut the lead in half and the Cubs again tied it on an RBI single by Anthony Rizzo off Watson in the seventh. No matter though, as Starling Marte scored on Russell Martin’s sacrifice fly in the eighth to give Pittsburgh a third lead of the game, one they would hold onto in the end. Pedro Strop (0-1) was tagged with the loss for Chicago.
Mark Melancon pitched a clean eighth and Jason Grilli earned his second save in three opportunities on the young season. Morton got the win this time, after Grilli had blown a save chance in his first start last Wednesday in the game that ended in 16 innings.
Chicago is in last place in the NL Central and has won only one of four against the first-place Pirates so far this year. They send Jason Hammel (1-0) to the mound on Wednesday evening at 8:05, while Clint Hurdle hands the ball to Wandy Rodriguez (0-1) in a rematch of last Thursday’s Cubs victory at PNC Park.
