Batters backup pitcher as Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Chicago Cubs 10-0 - MLB Update
The Pittsburgh Pirates crushed League rivals Chicago Cubs in the second outing of the three-game series 10-0 at Wrigley Field, Chicago on Saturday, May 28.
The Pirates’ starter Paul Maholm began the game in great fashion and held the Cubs to without a score in his nine innings. Maholm threw a full game, allowing just three scoreless hits without any walk and struck-out four batters to earn his second win of
the season.
Before the game Maholm had a bad record and was still looking for his second win of the season since achieving his first win on April 25 against the Washington Nationals. In that game he made a season high eight strike-outs over seven innings allowing just
two runs and two walks. The left-hand pitcher now has a 2-7 record with a 3.18 ERA in ten starts of the 2011 Major League Baseball season.
"You go out there and you do everything you can to make sure the team has a chance. And I think I've done that," Maholm said. "And today the guys broke out and scored a bunch of runs and made it easier on me. And going out there, every pitch wasn't a nail-biter."
The Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle was impressed with the contribution Maholm made with the ball.
"All he can control is his job off the mound, and he's really embraced that," Hurdle said. "He can't control run support. He can't control a lot of other things. But he can control how he pitches. And that's what he's locked down on."
As Maholm held the opposition under constant pressure, the Pirates’ batters after three scoreless innings came into action and touched five runs in the fourth inning. Steve Pearce opened the account touching an RBI double to centre-field off the Cubs’ starter
Randy Wells, who before this was going scoreless.
In the same inning, Ronny Cedeno launched a dazzling 412-feet long three-homer to take the lead 5-0 before the Cubs’ replaced Randy with reliever James Russell. Wells threw just four innings and consumed five runs on five hits but despite striking-out seven
batters could not manage to continue his game.
The move however did not work out for the Cubs as he allowed Lyle Overbay a 427-feet huge homer and Chris Snyder a 380-feet striking homer in the sixth inning to put his team in a 0-7 deficit.
Andrew McCutchen blistered a 404-feet long two-run homer off the Cubs’ reliever Scott Maine to the right side of the field to earn a 9-0 lead in the seventh inning. The swinging of the bat that has started from the fifth inning stopped for an inning in the
eighth when Maine managed to escape with no-score. However, as soon as he handed the four-seam ball to John Grabow the Pirates’ Garret Jones smashed a hit to the right side of the field to score the tenth and final run of the game.
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