Pirates beat Cubs 5-4 in Game 1 of doubleheader

Open to legal residents of the forty eight (48) contiguous United States and District of Columbia (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry. “I’m really proud of our efforts”.

St. Louis has won consecutive games following a 2-8 skid and increased its lead in the NL Central to three games over second-place Pittsburgh.

The Pirates got one back in the bottom of the inning as Gregory Polanco singled, stole second, and came home as Starling Marte grounded the ball back to Arrieta, who made a poor throw on a routine play to first.

Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole gave up four runs, three earned, in 6 1-3 innings in his return after the Pirates skipped his last turn in hopes of giving their 25-year-old ace a breather before the stretch run.

Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Montero tags out Pittsburgh Pirates’…

To watch the Wednesday Night Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates game live online, use the stream provided by WatchESPN at this link, or download the WatchESPN app to watch the game on mobile devices. He came home on first baseman Michael Morse’s double-play grounder in the seventh inning to get the Pirates within 2-1.

Arrieta is looking to become the first Cubs pitcher to win 20 games in a season since Jon Lieber in 2001.

Pittsburgh scored in the sixth when Arrieta threw wide of first on a comebacker by Marte and tied it in the eighth after Maddon chose to keep Arrieta in even with the bases loaded and his pitch count at 116.

Florimon entered as a pinch runner after Pedro Alvarez worked a leadoff walk against Justin Grimm (3-5).

“I don’t think they’re wrapped up in the fact that they’re in this particular moment, they have a chance to make the playoffs and these games are overly critical”, Maddon told MLB’s official website. That’s just kind of personally the way I am.

BLUE JAYS 9, BRAVES 1 David Price allowed one run in seven innings, Russell Martin hit a home run and drove in four runs, and visiting Toronto beat Shelby Miller and Atlanta to protect their lead in the AL East. Price (16-5) gave up six hits and had nine strikeouts. If the Pirates manage to win this week series, the Cubs will be relegated to hold onto that second spot, which shouldn’t be hard, as the next closest contender, the defending champion San Francisco Giants, are 7.5 out. Arrieta is 8-0 with a 0.46 ERA in his last eight starts. “He was outstanding”.

Montero had two hits for the Cubs, who took advantage of two wild pitches from Joakim Soria to rally from a 4-1 deficit. The Pirates have split their last eight home games. We continued to fight and that’s what a lot of us are proud about. All Happ has done is help the Pirates survive in the hyper competitive NL Central while A.J. Burnett spent six weeks on the disabled list with a strained right forearm. The 38-year-old, in the final season of his career, pitched five innings in a no decision against Milwaukee last Thursday.

The Cubs were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position before Kris Bryant doubled in a run in the sixth. Soler is on a rehab assignment and has been out since August 24….