Paul Maholm shines as Chicago Cubs humble Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates continued to slide down as they suffered a humiliating 1-5 loss at the hands of Chicago Cubs at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, July 24 in second game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular
season.
Chicago had prevailed in series opener as well and credit should be given to them for fulfilling their potential in both the games against the Pirates. With their win on Tuesday, the Cubs took an impassable 2-0 lead in the series and it will be interesting
to see if they can take one step further to complete a deserving series sweep against Pittsburgh.
Pirates, on the other hand, have no one to blame except for themselves. They have paid the price for making too many errors on the field. Despite taking the loss, they are placed second on the National League Central Division standings. Manager Clint Hurdle
will be looking to come up with better tactics in upcoming games to have any chance of replacing leaders Cincinnati Reds.
Cubs’ starting pitcher Paul Maholm had an excellent time on the mound as he played a key role in determining the result of the game. Allowing just four hits and a run in eight effective innings, he created all sorts of problems for Pirates’ offence.
"I've made more than a few starts here and I enjoy pitching here," Maholm said of PNC Park. "Obviously, it's a pitcher-friendly park and if you make your pitches, it's going to work out well for a ground ball guy. I thought I did well and executed my pitches
and it always help to get good defense and some runs to work with."
His counterpart from Pittsburgh, James McDonald took his fourth loss of the season after he gave up five hits and five runs in six way-ward innings.
"I was actually pretty pleased with this outing," McDonald said. "The ball came out of my hand really well. I felt like I had good command of my pitches, especially my curveball."
Garrett Jones homered to right in the fourth to score the Pirates’ only run. For the Cubs, Starlin Castro and left-fielder Alfonso Soriano hit home-runs.
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