Pirates win eighth consecutive game with 4-0 victory over Cubs

CHICAGO Extra rest agrees with Francisco Liriano.

Given more than the standard four days off between starts for the second consecutive turn through the rotation, Liriano pitched his second consecutive strong outing. It was enough for the Pirates to beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-0, at Wrigley Field and win their eighth game in a row.

The Pirates increased their lead on the Cubs to 51/2 games, and the Cubs have seven games left to cut into it. Only one head-to-head matchup remains: Sunday, with Jake Arrieta on the mound.

Liriano pitched 72/3 scoreless innings and struck out nine, giving him 200 strikeouts this season. His career high is 201, set in 2010. Liriano and Gerrit Cole are the first teammates in Pirates history to each strike out 200 batters in the same season.

After giving up five runs in 21/2 innings Sept. 13 against the Milwaukee Brewers, Liriano (12-7) got an extra day off. In his next start, Sept. 19 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he allowed two runs and struck out nine in seven innings.

For the second consecutive start, Jason Hammel did not complete more than four innings against the Pirates and allowed three runs in an inning. Jordy Mercer’s three-run homer in the fifth accounted for the damage.

Unlike Hammel’s previous start against the Pirates, at PNC Park on Sept. 15 when he threw 28 pitches in the first, he started strong Saturday. The wind off Lake Michigan continued to blow in Saturday, meaning that Andrew McCutchen’s fourth-inning drive to center field got stuck in the ivy rather than clearing the wall. Hammel stranded McCutchen at second.

The Pirates sent nine men to the plate in the fifth and forced the Cubs to use two relievers. Francisco Cervelli and Pedro Alvarez singled. Mercer, who had only two home runs this season in consecutive games (June 2 and 3), hit a 1-0 mistake fastball through the wind in left center.

Singles by Liriano and Starling Marte gave the Pirates a chance to add to their 3-0 lead, but reliever Justin Grimm struck out Snider. After Grimm walked McCutchen, Trevor Cahill got the inning’s final two outs, including striking out Neil Walker with a full count and the bases loaded.

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