Series Review: Cubs Dismantle Pirates, Steal Booty Too
The Cubs beat the Pirates in every phase of the game. If you would have told me that the Cubs would outscore the Pirates, the number one offense in baseball, while playing in Pittsburgh, 20-5, I would’ve jumped up and down in celebration. It was an unbelievable level of domination.
Pitching
The Cubs starting pitching completely shut down the Pirates, allowing only two runs. In contrast, the Pirates starting pitchers gave up sixteen runs. Yes, that’s correct and yes, it’s hard to believe. Utter. Total. Complete. Domination.
Here are the pitching totals for the Cubs:
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Jake Arrieta | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Jon Lester | 5.2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Jason Hammel | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3.60 |
| Adam Warren | 2.1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7.73 |
| Trevor Cahill | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Travis Wood | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Pedro Strop | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Hector Rondon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Justin Grimm | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Totals | 27 | 21 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 24 | 2 | 1.33 |
Hitting
The Cubs bats came alive in this series, which was great to see because, let’s face it, we all love offense.
| Player | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | K | BA | OBP |
| Dexter Fowler | 12 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | .333 | .467 |
| Ben Zobrist | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 | .250 | .267 |
| Anthony Rizzo | 14 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .533 |
| Kris Bryant | 12 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | .417 | .533 |
| Jorge Soler | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .143 | .143 |
| Addison Russell | 11 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .273 | .467 |
| David Ross | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | .167 | .667 |
| Tommy La Stella | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .111 | .111 |
| Matt Szczur | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .667 |
| Javier Baez | 12 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .417 | .417 |
| Tim Federowicz | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .667 | .750 |
| Ryan Kalish | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Jake Arrieta | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .667 |
| Jon Lester | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Jason Hammel | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 |
| Clayton Richard | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Team Totals | 110 | 20 | 34 | 17 | 15 | 20 | .309 | .397 |
Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant both excelled against the Pirates. Rizzo has been driving in runs all year – he leads the league in RBIs with twenty-seven – but his AVG has been low so it’s good to see him hitting .500 in this series. Bryant also started out slow and he’s also heating up lately. Over the last fourteen games Kris is slashing .410/.521/.667 which has boosted his YTD AVG to a healthy .303.
Ben Zobrist and Anthony Rizzo each had one home run against Pittsburgh for a total of two in the series for the Cubs. That’s right, the Cubs scored twenty runs and only hit two home runs. They had thirty-four hits and fifteen walks.
Cubs RISP for the series 10-for-46 or .217. Pirates RISP for the series 2-for-19 or .105. So yes, the Cubs could have scored a lot more runs. And yes again, the Cubs pitching suffocated the Pirates hitters.
Bottom line
The Cubs destroyed the Pirates and all the Pirates could do was bean Ben Zobrist and have Sean Rodriguez talk trash and stare down Strop before Strop struck him out and sent him packing.
If I was a Pirates fan I would have to rethink my choice. They looked that bad. I was at the first two games and it was like watching a first place team play a last place team. I think that’s a major reflection of how good the Cubs really are to come in and shut down the top offense in the league the way they did.
Oh, and by the way, the Pirates are now the second ranked offense in baseball…behind the Cubs.
Bottom line – The Cubs owned this one.