Cubs sweep Pirates behind five home runs |
CHICAGO -- With the wind blowing straight out tonight at Wrigley Field, it was no surprise to see a total of six home runs. The Cubs hit five of those, including Willson Contreras' homer in first major league at-bat.
The final score from the ballpark tonight was 10-5, with Kyle Hendricks as the winning pitcher, and Jameson Taillon takes the loss for the visitors. Hendricks pitched six complete innings, giving up seven hits, one run, and striking out twelve. Taillon was on the hill for four innings tonight, giving up four runs on eight hits, while striking out five. The Cubs got right to it in the first inning when it came to scoring where Anthony Rizzo singled to drive in Chris Coghlan from third. In the very next inning, Javier Baez launched a solo shot to center field for his sixth home run of the year. Then, in the third, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo hit back-to-back solo shots. Chicago stayed quiet until the sixth where on the first pitch of his first major league at-bat, Contreras hit a two-run shot to center field. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Anthony Rizzo had another RBI by singling, allowing Jason Heyward to score. Ben Zobrist then reached on a fielder’s choice, which allowed Bryant to score. Addison Russell also had a two run home run on a line drive to left center field. The Pirates got their first run from Josh Harrison with a solo shot in the fourth inning. The Pirates were quiet until the top of the seventh when Starling Marte tripled, driving in Matt Joyce and Andrew McCutchen. Things didn’t stop then, however. Jung Ho Kang also contributed with a single in the seventh that scored Marte from third. The Cubs will face the Cardinals Monday night, at 7:05pm CT. Notes * The Cubs are a season-high 27 games over .500 and their 47-20 start is tied for the best mark by a Cubs team (along with 1918) through 67 games since the 1907 squad went 51-16 … the Cubs earned their 500th win all-time against the Pirates at Wrigley Field (500-453) ... the 500 wins are their second-most against any opponent at Wrigley Field, trailing only the Cardinals (504). * Chicago swept the Pirates in a three-game set at Wrigley Field for the first time since April 18-20, 2008 ... marks the first time since 2009 that the Cubs have swept the Pirates twice in a season ... the Cubs have a major league best seven sweeps this season. * The Cubs have hit three or more homers in consecutive games for the first time since September 2-4 of last season … the five homers tied a season-high (also, April 21 at Cincinnati) and are the most by the Cubs at Wrigley Field since August 23, 2015 vs. Atlanta (five homers) … the Cubs scored 10 runs at Wrigley Field for the first time since September 4, 2015 vs. Arizona (14 runs). * Chicago collected its 25th win this season by five or more runs … St. Louis is second with 17 such wins. * Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo connected on back-to-back homers in the third inning, the Cubs sixth set of back-to-back homers this season (tying their total from last season) … marks the second-career time that Bryant and Rizzo have gone back-to-back as they also did so May 11 of last season vs. the Mets … the pair have now homered in the same game nine times and five times this season, including yesterday. * Kris Bryant (1-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB) has homered in consecutive games for the fifth time this season and has four homers in his last seven home games … was his first-career homer on a 3-0 count. * Addison Russell (1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI) has 37 RBI this season, fourth-most among all shortstops.
