Pirates sweep Cubs with 11-1 drubbing
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Lastings Milledge drove in four runs, Garrett Jones added three RBIs and the Pittsburgh Pirates finally won a one-sided game, beating the Cubs 11-1 Thursday night for their first sweep of their NL Central rival in nearly four years. Brian Burres (2-1), roughed up in three consecutive appearances before pitching 5 1-3 scoreless innings in a spot start April 29 against Los Angeles, allowed three hits over seven shutout innings to win his second in a row. Before that, he hadn’t won in nearly two seasons.
The Pirates have fallen into a pattern of winning close games but losing lots of blowouts; they’ve lost 11 times by six runs or more and their minus-86 run differential through 27 games was easily the worst in either the NL or AL. However, they are 6-1 in one-run games and 10-1 when scoring four runs or more.
For a change, they put this one away early – and easily – following a two-hour pregame meeting with a communications coach designed to build their social skills and boost their image. A five-run first inning against Cubs starter Randy Wells (3-1) no doubt accomplished that.
The Pirates hadn’t won by more than four runs since beating the Dodgers 11-5 on opening day April 5.
Wells (3-1) didn’t walk any in his previous two starts, only to walk Akinori Iwamura and Andy LaRoche in succession. Andrew McCutchen and Jones followed with RBI singles and Ryan Doumit doubled in a run. Milledge, who came in with six RBIs in 93 at-bats, finished it off with a two-run double.
Wells lasted at least six innings in each of his first five starts, but yielded seven runs, six earned, in two innings to halt his four-game winning streak. Jones had a two-run double in the second, and Milledge added another against reliever Jeff Gray during a four-run fourth inning in which he mistakenly thought he had homered.
As fireworks went off prematurely, Milledge believed his drive cleared the left-field wall, but the ball instead deflected off the base of the wall. Milledge was tagged out as he jogged between second and third – a potentially costly error in a close game, but a harmless one in a game in which the Cubs made three errors.
Burres, a former Orioles reliever, gave the Pirates something they’ve rarely had all season – successive strong starts by the same pitcher. The left-hander struck out four and walked three, lowering an ERA that was 9.31 before the Dodgers start to 4.09.
NOTES: The Pirates expect RH Ross Ohlendorf (back) to come off the disabled list and start Monday against Cincinnati. … Pittsburgh has swept two of its last three series at home, but was outscored 36-1 while losing three to the Brewers in the other. … Pittsburgh has scored in the first inning in seven of its last eight games. … The Cubs followed up a three-game weekend sweep of Arizona by being swept by Pittsburgh for the first time since Aug. 28-30, 2006.