Cubs Sweep Bucs Out of Chicago With 17-3 Whuppin'

Odd first frame for Jose Quintana: 31 pitches, two runs, three hits, two HBPs (on 0-2 counts) and struck out the side while leaving the bases loaded. Ivan Nova's wasn't much cleaner - 31 pitches, a run, couple of knocks, walk, wild pitch and inning-ending save by J-Hay to stem the early bleeding. The Bucs whiffed in order and Javier Baez tied the game in the second. He reached on Freeser's error, went to third when Stew's throw on a SB attempt missed the mark and then stole home (Stew tried to pick him off third; Baez instead broke for the p;late and scored w/o a return throw). In between, Nova also struck out the side. The third saw the Cubs bang out a single, double, homer (Ian Happ) trifecta to make it 5-2; Ivan is still looking for answers. Steven Brault took over in the fourth, stranded a double and got beat up in the fifth, A two-bagger, bopped batter and Happ double cashed in a run. A single brought in one more run and reliever AJ Schugel, who was lit up too. Kyle Schwarber went long off him and it was 12-3; the Fat Lady has sung.

No answers for Ivan - or any Pirates pitcher - tonight (photo Pgh Pirates)

Josh Bell homered off Quintana in the sixth; Anthony Rizzo did the same against Angel Sanchez. Hector Rondon worked a quiet frame and Angel gave up another dinger, this one a two-run blast to Schwarber. Justin Wilson put up an eighth inning zippo. For some reason, Felipe got the Bucco call and gave up a variety of singles, from infield bleeders to laser bolts, and the Cubbies tacked on a couple of more tallies before Dovydas Neverauskas got the third out. Felix Pena got the ninth inning honors. Jordy doubled with two outs to keep the flicker alive but Eli went down swinging to mercifully turn out the lights. OK, September call-ups are around the corner and the Bucs are down-and-out; time to see what's cookin' for 2018.

Notes:

• The Pirates had six hits: J-Bell's boomer, Jordy's two-bagger and four singles. No Buc got aboard twice tonight.
• It was as bad as it seemed. The Cubs punched out a season-high 20 hits, their first 20-hit game since May 12th, 2014, against the Redbirds. The Cubs have scored 15+ runs four times this month, as many as the rest of MLB combined per ESPN Stats.
• John Jay became the first lefty to get a hit off Felipe Rivero since May, a streak of 40+ hitters.
• Not much to write home about for Ivan again - he went three IP, giving up five runs (four earned) on five hits, a walk, wild pitch and five K after 69 pitches.

AJ has become the mid-inning clean-up man (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

• AJ Schugel has allowed 12 of 19 inherited runners to score, which is the best mark on the team beside George Kontos (20/35) who did most of his work with SF. 
• May the circle be unbroken: Stetson Allie, pitcher turned 1B for the Bucs, signed with the Dodgers as a minor-league FA. And guess what? They're converting him back to pitcher, working the 26-year-old out of the pen.