 was roughed up for six runs - five earned - and six hits in 4 2/3 innings after winning his previous two starts. He struck out six but walked four in losing to the Cubs for just the second time in nine regular-season decisions. Jordy Mercer went 3 for 3 with a walk for Pittsburgh and has reached base in 14 straight games but Josh Harrison's 10-game hitting streak ended as he went 0 for 4. Andrew McCutchen drove in both Pirates' run with a first-inning homer, his sixth, and a ground out in the fifth. The Pirates lost their second straight game after winning six in a row. The Cubs pulled in front 2-1 in the third inning when Rizzo hit a two-out RBI double and scored on Zobrist's single. In addition to Ross' single, Zobrist hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth and Matt Szczur scored on a throwing error by Harrison, the second baseman, on the back end of a delayed double steal attempt. Zobrist scored on a wild pitch by Kyle Lobstein in the seventh to increase the Cubs' lead to 7-2. TRAINER'S ROOMCubs: RF Jason Heyward (sore right wrist) missed his first game of the season and might also sit out Tuesday night. . Szczur, who took Heyward's place in the lineup, left the game with right hamstring tightness after scoring in the fifth inning. Pirates: C Elias Diaz will undergo right elbow surgery sometime later this week. Though the team did not offer specifics, Diaz's agent, Gerardo Boscan, tweeted that the rookie would not require Tommy John surgery. BAD BLOODHome plate umpire Laz Diaz warned both benches after Lobstein hit Zobrist with a pitch to lead off the top of the seventh. That came after Hammel hit the last batter he faced, Starling Marte, with a pitch to start the bottom of the sixth. The teams had a benches-clearing incident in last year's NL wild card game when Pirates reliever Tony Watson plunked Jake Arrieta, who went on to a pitch a five-hit shutout. Pittsburgh utility infielder Sean Rodriguez was ejected. UP NEXTCubs: Arrieta (5-0, 1.00) make his first start in May on Tuesday night after winning all five outings in April. He is 6-1 with a 1.68 ERA against the Pirates in nine regular-season starts in addition to the wild card win. Pirates: LHP Jon Niese (3-0, 5.08) has won his first three decisions for the first time in his nine-year career but is 3-6 against the Cubs.
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Time: 07:05 P.M. EST Venue: PNC Park
The Chicago Cubs have chosen a creative wardrobe on this visit to Pittsburgh. They certainly enjoyed a raucous celebration the last time they were there. The Cubs start a three-game series with the Pirates on Monday night in the NL Central rivals' first meeting since last year's wild-card game. Chicago (17-6) is used to offbeat manager Joe Maddon deciding on unusual themes for road trips. This one is being called a minimalist zany suit trip, with players set to wear ugly suits.'' I saw this website with some cool suits, different,'' Maddon said. ''Mine will feature tulips. If you're at any time without part of your suit, it's a hundred-dollar fine, unless you're working out. ... Part of it is that we never get dressed up. If we're going to dress up, I don't want it to be a conventional suit. That was my premise. Then I found these." Dexter Fowler wore pink shorts and a matching sports coat for his outfit. Maddon said he bought the suit with tulips as well as one with leopard skin. The Cubs' early success is putting the idiom that "a leopard can't change its spots" to the test since the perennially woebegone franchise has been baseball's best team. Maddon's first year with the club was a rousing success, and Chicago's postseason run started with a 4-0 road victory Oct. 7 over a Pirates club that won 98 games. Jake Arrieta struck out 11 in a five-hitter that night to hand Pittsburgh (15-10) its second straight wild-card game loss. Gerrit Cole (2-2, 2.78 ERA), who lost that night by allowing four runs in five innings, will face the Cubs again Monday. He went 2-1 with a 2.13 ERA in four 2015 regular-season starts versus Chicago, allowing no homers over 25 1-3 innings before Fowler and Kyle Schwarber - currently on the disabled list - took him deep in the playoffs. Cole is 7-1 with a 2.88 ERA in nine regular-season outings versus Chicago. Fowler is 6 for 17 overall against him. The right-hander won his second straight start Tuesday by yielding four runs - two earned - in six innings of a 9-4 victory at Colorado. The Cubs will counter with a pitcher who has been even more effective than the unbeatable Arrieta in Jason Hammel (3-0, 0.75), who has the NL's best ERA. Hammel struck out seven in six innings of a 9-0 rout at Cincinnati on April 24 in his last outing. The right-hander was 1-2 with a 4.35 ERA in four 2015 starts against Pittsburgh. Andrew McCutchen is a .300 hitter in 30 at-bats in this matchup and Francisco Cervelli is 5 for 10. Cervelli is expected back in the lineup after he sat out Sunday's 6-5, 11-inning home defeat to Cincinnati that ended Pittsburgh's six-game win streak. The Pirates, who committed a season-high four errors, rallied to tie the game during each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.'' We got in our own way a couple times, but we battled, and everybody kept playing,'' manager Clint Hurdle said. ''We scored late, they scored late. It was like throwing punches at one another - and they were able to throw one more than we were.'' Chicago welcomed Kris Bryant back from a one-game absence due to an ankle sprain in Sunday's 4-3, 10-inning defeat to Atlanta. The Cubs, who have yet to lose two straight, took 11 of 19 matchups in the 2015 regular season.
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