Cubs Club Bucs 7-1

After a K, Nick Castellanos whacked a hung curve out of Bowman Field off Mitch Keller. K-Man opened the Bucco half with a bloop single against Jose Quintana, who then followed with three soft outs. Mitch tossed a clean second inning, but is at 38 pitches,with three ball counts on six of the seven hitters. B-Rey reached second on a boot of a well struck ball to start and stayed there; Redbeard had the only other barrel, and it was an at ‘em ball the shift claimed. With two gone in the third, Jason Heyward jacked one over the fence to make it 2-0. Not a sound came from the Pirates. Awalk, double, and two-run single from Kyle Schwarber added to the tally.Starling doubled to open; he was stranded as the offense looks stuck in the same gear it was in yesterday. A couple of doubles brought on Chris Stratton, who gave up an Anthony Rizzo dinger to make it 7-0 in the fifth. The Bucs didn’t get a ball out of the infield.

The Cubs were quiet in the sixth; the Pirates got raps from K-Man and Starling, but a DP in between killed the inning. Clay Holmes survived a walk, infield single and throwing error by Erik Gonzalez to post a zero in the seventh. The Bucs got a two-out double by Redbeard; he was left aboard. Holmes worked around two more walks in the eighth. Derek Holland took over and 1-2-3′ed Pittsburgh. Montana DuRapau gave up a walk, but a pair of whiffs kept the Cubs at bay. Craig Kimbrel gave up a long fly to Starling – yay, on the board at last – on his first pitch, then bopped Tuck on a two-strike toss. He settled down and K’ed the next pair before Joe Maddon decided to bring on Pedro Strop as Kimbrel just came off the IL today. The Bucs got an infield rap and walk to load the bases. The Cubs had the Pirates right where they wanted them as Melky struck out.

Hey, another 0-fer w/RISP (0-for-9 if you’re keeping count), not that it mattered much tonight.

Notes:

• Starling had three hits (including a double, homer, and stolen base) and K-Man a pair of raps, as did Redbeard.
• The Cubs K’ed 11 Bucs and walked one; the Pirates fanned 14 and walked seven.
• On his radio show, Neal Huntington said the pitching plans w/o Jamo are to work with they have next year and look to add an Eddie Volquez/JA Happ-type. They wonder why the fans question their commitment.
• Altoona manager Michael Ryan won his 214th Curve game, a new franchise record, by a 5-4 count over Bowie.