When most teams see the Pittsburgh Pirates on their schedules, their fan bases get excited for the possibility of a series wins. The Cubs are not one of those teams.
The Cubs dropped the series opener against the Pirates 4-2 on Friday at Wrigley. They are now 1-3 against Pittsburgh this season and 6-15 since the end of 2009.
Kevin Correia was dominant again for the Pirates on Friday. Correia went seven and a third innings in which he allowed only four hits and no runs. The righty improved to 7-4 on the season.
The Pirates (23-36) offense wasn’t overly impressive in the series opener. They only had seven hits, but thanks to two Cub errors and six walks by starter Doug Davis they scratched out four runs which turned out to be enough. Davis fell to 0-3 on the season after Friday’s loss.
The Cubs (22-27) made things interesting in the ninth when Alfonso Soriano cut the lead in half with a two run homer to give the sparse crowd, which at the time appeared to be outnumbered by seagulls, something to cheer about. That was as close as things would get though. Joel Hanrahan came in after Soriano’s homer and struck out the side. Hanrahan earned his fourteenth save out of fourteen chances.
The Cubs will look to even the series on Saturday afternoon.