April 2, 2014- Cubs at Pirates - harleyhorse8's Dynasty

Arena Blog Dynasty Scores Sign Up ☰

harleyhorse8's Dynasty Blog

April 2, 2014- Cubs at Pirates

Posted on May 18, 2014 at 04:32 PM.

(0)

Cubs Even Up Series with Close Win

By Evan Ritter, MLB.com Cubs Correspondent, April 2, 2014

PITTSBURGH- Well, Opening Day is behind us, and the season is truly underway. The Cubs and Pirates went into this game both in need of a victory to stay competitive in the NL East this year. The Pirates would send lefty Francisco Liriano (0-0) to the mound for this cold April night, and the Cubs would select a lefty of their own, 2013 All-Star Travis Wood (0-0).

The first two innings went relatively easily for the pitchers, as both men gave up one walk but allowed no hits. The Cubs struck first in the third, after promising young outfielder Junior Lake drew a walk. Liriano would recover to strike out rookie Mike Olt, but Wood sacrifice bunted to move Lake over to second. With two away, CF Emilio Bonifacio slapped a grounder down the 3rd base line, bringing the Dominican around. The next batter, Darwin Barney, would slap a double the same way, scoring the speedy Bonifacio all the way from first and giving the Cubs their first extra-base hit of the year. Shortstop Starlin Castro then hit another grounder to left field, scoring Barney to make it 3-0. After 3, the two-out rally was ended when Justin Ruggiano struck out chasing a slider to end the inning.

Wood posted zeroes in the bottom of the third (despite loading the bases) and fourth, but quite nearly lost the game for the Cubs in the fifth. After walking Pirates catcher Russell Martin, Jose Tabata came in to pinch hit for Liriano, hitting a single to center which would turn into a double after Ruggiano in center bobbled the ball. With two runners in scoring position, Starling Marte grounded to short in a play that should have been an out, but Castro threw it over the head of first baseman Anthony Rizzo, scoring Martin from 3rd. Rookie Gregory Polanco then grounded between the shortstop and third baseman, bringing Tabata home. The next batter, Andrew McCutchen, grounded into a double play to the relief of all Cubs fans in attendance, but the Pirates' tying run came home anyway. Pedro Alvarez would strike out on a fastball to end the inning.

With Jeremy Wilson pitching for the Pirates, the Cubs offense started going again after Barney singled and Castro walked. Justin Ruggiano attempted to bunt the runners over, but a miscommunication between the pitcher and catcher ended up loading the bases. However, Welington Castillo would strike out, raising the possibility of a double play ending the inning. Rizzo would end up hitting a sacrifice fly, scoring the only run of the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Travis Wood began working once again, getting the first two batters out. However, similar to yesterday, second baseman Neil Walker hit a deep fly to right for two bases and advanced to third after a wild throw from Bonifacio. That would be the end for Wood, as Carlos Villanueva would come out of the bullpen to get the final out off a Russell Martin ground ball.

The Cubs would go three up, three down to start the seventh, and had to put in Blake Parker for the bottom of the seventh. There was some concern as Parker had blown a Cubs lead the last game. However, Parker would get three straight outs, striking out the first two batters he faced. After the Cubs again went three and out against Mark Melancon to start the eighth, manager Rick Renteria would choose to keep Parker in the game, and he delivered. Parker got the first two batters to ground out and then finished off the inning by striking out Bucs first baseman Gaby Sanchez. With reliever Jared Hughes hanging an 0-0-0 in the top of the ninth, it was up to Jose Veras to deliver his first save of the season. Veras got into some trouble early after an error by Barney put a runner on base. He rebounded by striking out the next batter he faced, but then walked pinch hitter Travis Snider to put the winning run aboard. Veras would rebound spectacularly, however, as he struck out the next two batters, earning his first save and the Cubs' first win of the season.

We know he doesn't usually hit well, but Darwin Barney had a great day offensively, going 3 for 4 with an RBI double. His fielding was less impressive as he came away with two errors. Elsewhere, rookie Mike Olt failed to impress, as he is still without a hit in his first two games. The Cubs' pitching staff have done a good job keeping Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez quiet, as neither has managed a hit this series. However, Gregory Polanco managed to get the better of the Cubs today, going 2 for 4 with 1 RBI.

With the series tied at 1-1, it will be interesting to see who wants the final game more tomorrow.

Evan Ritter is a sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @evan_ritter2046.

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates
Apr 2, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago (0-1)	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	7	3
Pittsburgh (1-0)	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3	6	0
W: Wood (1-0) L: Wilson (0-1) S: Veras (1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			CHC	PIT

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Bonifacio, RF	4	1	1	1	0	0	0	.200
Barney, 2B	4	2	3	1	0	0	0	.500
Castro, SS	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	.143
Ruggiano, CF	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	.125
Castillo, C	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.167
Rizzo, 1B	3	0	0	1	0	1	0	.143
Lake, LF	3	1	0	0	1	3	0	.000
Olt, 3B	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.143
Wood, P	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Schierholtz, RF	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.400
TEAM TOTALS	30	4	7	4	2	8	0
BATTING: 2B: Barney (1) RBI: Castro (1), Bonifacio (1), Rizzo (1), Barney (1) SF: Rizzo SAC: Wood GIDP: Castro, Bonifacio
FIELDING: E: Castro (1), Bonifacio (1), Barney (2)

Pittsburgh Pirates
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Marte, LF	5	1	0	1	0	2	0	.111
Polanco, RF	4	0	2	1	0	0	0	.375
McCutchen, CF	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000
Alvarez, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Sanchez, 1B	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	.286
Mercer, SS	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.143
Walker, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.375
Martin, C	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	.167
Liriano, P	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
Snider, RF	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000
Tabata, LF	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
TEAM TOTALS	33	3	6	2	4	10	0
BATTING: 2B: Walker (2), Tabata (1) RBI: Marte (3), Polanco (2) GIDP: McCutchen, Walker

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wood (W, 1-0)	5.2	6	3	2	3	4	0	3.18
Villanueva (H, 1)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Parker (H, 1)	2.0	0	0	0	0	3	0	11.57
Veras (S, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0.00
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	6	3	2	4	10	0