Patrick Wisdom homered and drove in four runs and Alfonso Rivas hit a grand slam and knocked in five on Wednesday as the visiting Chicago Cubs clobbered the Pittsburgh Pirates 14-5 to snap a three-game losing streak.
Ian Happ added a two-run homer and Rafael Ortega hit a two-run double among his three hits for the Cubs, who scored seven in the second inning.
Chicago starter Keegan Thompson (7-2) gave up one run and four hits in six innings, with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Diego Castillo hit a solo homer — and, with the lopsided situation, pitched the ninth inning — and Bligh Madris hit a three-run double for the Pirates, who had won a season-high-tying three in a row.
Jerad Eickhoff (0-1), called up to make a spot start for his Pirates debut, got rocked for 10 runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one.
The Cubs sent 10 batters to the plate in the second. Jonathan Villar doubled, Nico Hoerner singled and Jason Heyward got hit with a pitch to load the bases. Eickhoff hit Rivas with a pitch to force in a run, and Ortega drove in two with a double to make it 3-0.
An out later, Wisdom drove in two more with a double. Happ followed with a two-run homer to center, his eighth, to increase the lead to 7-0.
Pittsburgh got on the board in the bottom of the second when Castillo led off with his fifth homer, to left.
In the fourth, Ortega walked and, an out later, Wisdom homered to center, his 14th and his second in two days, to push the gap to 9-1.
Villar tripled to open the fifth and scored on Hoerner’s sacrifice fly to make it 10-1.
In the ninth against Castillo, the Cubs loaded the bases with two outs on two walks and a hit batter. That set up Rivas’ grand slam to right, his third homer, to make it 14-1.
Pittsburgh loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth against David Norris on an error, a walk and a hit batter, then got a run on third baseman P.J. Higgins’ second error of the inning before Madris hit a three-run double.
–Field Level Media