Cubs 4, Pirates 1: Cubs Pile Up Extra-Base Hits in Pittsburgh Loss

The Pirates were simply outplayed in this one, and were beaten by another inexperienced starter (Randy Wells). Virgil Vasquez allowed five extra-base hits, including homers by Derrek Lee and Kosuke Fukudome. Vasquez's curveball can occasionally surprise a batter, but it's really the only pitch he has that does much, which leaves him vulnerable. One of the other extra-base hits was a triple by the lumbering Geovany Soto, who chugged to third after Garrett Jones narrowly missed a diving catch in left. Jones isn't nearly as unathletic as you'd think from such a big guy, but he's certainly no Nyjer Morgan out there either. (Fortunately, Soto didn't end up scoring.) Jones also went 0-for-4 at the plate. 

The Bucs managed to score only on an RBI single by Brandon Moss, and Andrew McCutchen and Jason Jaramillo were the only offensive players who had two hits. Tony Beasley gets big-time demerits for waving Jack Wilson home on a Freddy Sanchez single with two men on in the fifth; the Cubs gunned Wilson down by a mile, and the Pirates ended that inning without having scored.

Bright spot: Joel Hanrahan made his Pirates debut and allowed only a line-drive single by Sam Fuld. He then got Ryan Theriot to ground into a double play and struck out Lee to end the inning.

Cubs vs Pirates boxscore

Cubs vs Pirates recap