PIRATES GAME PREVIEW

CHI. CUBS AT PITTSBURGH

WHEN: 7:05 PM ET, Saturday, August 18, 2018

WHERE: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Two teams going in opposite directions meet Saturday night when the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs visit the slumping Pittsburgh Pirates for the third of a four-game set. The Cubs notched a second straight 1-0 triumph in the series Friday night for a seventh victory in 10 contests, extending their lead in the division to 4 1/2 games over the Milwaukee Brewers, while Pittsburgh lost its fifth straight.

Kyle Schwarber launched his 21st homer of the season for the only run Friday and Chicago matched a major league record with seven double plays, including one to end the game with a pair of runners on base. Tyler Chatwood will try to spin another pitching gem for the Cubs in the series when he takes to mound Saturday against snake-bit righty Joe Musgrove of the Pirates. Pittsburgh put together an 11-game winning streak that straddled the All-Star break to put itself in the playoff race, but has lost 13 of the last 21 contests to fall 11 games out in the division and 6 1/2 back of the second NL wild card. Starling Marte had two of the Pirates’ seven hits in Friday’s setback and has hit safely in four straight.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, WGN (Chicago), AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs RH Tyler Chatwood (4-5, 5.06 ERA) vs. Pirates RH Joe Musgrove (4-7, 3.49)

Chatwood will be summoned from the bullpen corps to replace scheduled starter Mike Montgomery, who went on the disabled list Friday with left shoulder inflammation. The 28-year-old Californian makes his 20th start of the season after permitting four runs on seven hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings across three relief appearances in August. Marte has a homer against Chatwood, who gave up five runs in six innings versus the Pirates this year.

Musgrove has recorded four straight quality starts, allowing just seven earned runs over 27 innings, but is just 1-3 during that stretch. The 25-year-old California native was beaten by Colorado (2-0) and the New York Mets (1-0) before yielding four runs (three earned) over six innings last Sunday in a loss at San Francisco. Jason Heyward is 2-for-5 against Musgrove, who held the Cubs to one run on seven hits over seven innings in a win May 30.

WALK-OFFS

1. Pittsburgh C Francisco Cervelli was hitless in one at-bat Friday, but is 11-for-29 with three homers and 10 RBIs against the Cubs in 2018.

2. Chicago 2B-OF Ben Zobrist had a hit Friday and is 26-for-67 since the All-Star break to raise his overall batting average to .307.

3. Pirates LHP Felipe Vazquez has converted 16 straight save opportunities overall and registered 4 1/3 scoreless innings this month.

PREDICTION: Pirates 5, Cubs 4

PIRATES SHOW NO OFFENSE

CHI. CUBS 1, PITTSBURGH 0

WHEN: 7:05 PM ET, Friday, August 17, 2018
WHERE: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
TEMPERATURE: 70°
UMPIRES: Home - Carlos Torres, 1B - Paul Nauert, 2B - Chad Fairchild, 3B - Scott Barry
ATTENDANCE: 24298

Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run and Cole Hamels pitched seven scoreless innings Friday as the visiting Chicago Cubs won their third game in a row, 1-0 over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

It is the second straight night the Cubs beat the Pirates 1-0 on a home run, Ian Happ providing the pop on Thursday.

Relievers Brandon Kintzler, Jorge De La Rosa, Steve Cishek and Jesse Chavez combined with Hamels on the seven-hit shutout, with Chavez picking up his second save. The Cubs had a six-hit shutout Thursday.

Pittsburgh tied a club record by hitting into seven double plays, including David Freese's second of the night to end the game.

The Cubs moved to a season-high 21 games over .500 at 71-50.

The Pirates have lost five straight and dipped below .500, at 61-62, for the first time since July 15. They also fell 11 games behind the first-place Cubs in the National League Central and 6 1/2 games out of the second wild-card spot.

Hamels (8-9), in his fourth start since being acquired by the Cubs, gave up five hits with three strikeouts and two walks. It was his second win over Pittsburgh among those four starts. He has allowed two earned runs in 25 innings with Chicago.

He also had one of Chicago's six hits, a leadoff single in the fifth.

Pirates starter Trevor Williams (10-9) had a tough-luck outing. He gave up only the solo home run among four hits in seven innings, with four strikeouts and two walks. He has given up three runs over 36 innings in his past six starts.

The Pirates had runners in every inning but the fifth but had no extra-base hits.

With two outs in the second, Schwarber pounced on an elevated pitch and sent it inside the foul pole in right for his 21st homer and a 1-0 Cubs lead.

The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 47 minutes by rain.

Top Game Performances

Starting Pitchers

Chi. Cubs		Pittsburgh
Cole Hamels	Player	Trevor Williams
Win	W/L	Loss
7.0	IP	7.0
3	Strikeouts	4
5	Hits	4
0.00	ERA	1.29

Hitting

Chi. Cubs		Pittsburgh
Anthony Rizzo	Player	Starling Marte
2	Hits	2
0	RBI	0
0	HR	0
3	TB	2
.500	Avg	.500

Team Stats Summary

Team	Hits	HR	TB	Avg	LOB	K	RBI	BB	SB	Errors
Chi. Cubs	6	1	10	.182	18	5	1	3	0	0
Pittsburgh	7	0	7	.259	15	4	0	3	1	3

SCORING SUMMARY

INNING				CHC	PIT
CUBS		2nd	Schwarber homered to right (346 feet).	1	0

Final Scoring Summary

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chi. Cubs	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	3

Chi. Cubs

Hitters	Pos	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Avg
Ian Happ	CF-LF	4	0	1	0	0	2	1	.243
Jason Heyward	RF	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.280
Ben Zobrist	2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.307
Brandon Kintzler	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Jorge De La Rosa	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Albert Almora Jr.	CF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.297
Anthony Rizzo	1B	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	.267
Javier Baez	3B-2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	.290
Kyle Schwarber	LF	2	1	1	1	2	0	0	.243
Steve Cishek	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167
Jesse Chavez	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Victor Caratini	C	3	0	0	0	1	0	3	.246
Cole Hamels	SP	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.250
David Bote	3B	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.318
Addison Russell	SS	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.259
Totals		33	1	6	1	3	5	18
Batting
2B - Anthony Rizzo (19)
HR - Kyle Schwarber (21)
TB - Ian Happ, Ben Zobrist, Anthony Rizzo 3, Kyle Schwarber 4, Cole Hamels
RBI - Kyle Schwarber (49)
2-Out RBI - Kyle Schwarber (19)
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Ben Zobrist (29), Victor Caratini (14), Addison Russell (46)
GIDP - Javier Baez (8)
Team LOB - 8
Baserunning
CS - Ian Happ (2, 3rd by Crick/Cervelli)

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	ERA
Cole Hamels (W 3-0)	7.0	5	0	0	2	3	0	0.72
Brandon Kintzler (H 19)	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.64
Jorge De La Rosa (H 7)	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4.38
Steve Cishek (H 19)	0.1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1.78
Jesse Chavez (SV 1)	0.2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1.76
WP - Steve Cishek
HBP - Francisco Cervelli (by Hamels)
Pitches-Strikes - Cole Hamels 98-59, Brandon Kintzler 4-2, Jorge De La Rosa 5-3, Steve Cishek 10-6, Jesse Chavez 9-4
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Cole Hamels 11-2, Brandon Kintzler 0-0, Jorge De La Rosa 0-0, Steve Cishek 0-0, Jesse Chavez 1-0
Batters Faced - Cole Hamels 24, Brandon Kintzler 2, Jorge De La Rosa 1, Steve Cishek 2, Jesse Chavez 2
Inherited Runners-Scored - Jorge De La Rosa 1-0, Jesse Chavez 1-0

Pittsburgh

Hitters	Pos	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Avg
Corey Dickerson	LF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.302
Starling Marte	CF	4	0	2	0	0	2	1	.276
Gregory Polanco	RF	2	0	1	0	2	0	1	.240
David Freese	3B	4	0	1	0	0	0	4	.293
Francisco Cervelli	C	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	.254
Josh Bell	1B	3	0	0	0	0	0	4	.264
Josh Harrison	2B	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.258
Adeiny Hechavarria	SS	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.375
Colin Moran	PH	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.270
Kevin Newman	PR-SS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Trevor Williams	SP	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.061
Kyle Crick	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Adam Frazier	PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.276
Keone Kela	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals		27	0	7	0	3	4	15
Batting
TB - Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte 2, Gregory Polanco, David Freese, Adeiny Hechavarria, Colin Moran
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Josh Bell (48)
GIDP - Corey Dickerson (8), Gregory Polanco (10), David Freese 2 (10), Josh Bell 2 (12)
Team LOB - 4
Baserunning
SB - Gregory Polanco (8, 3rd off Hamels/Caratini)
Fielding
E - Josh Harrison (6), Josh Bell (6), Keone Kela (1)

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	ERA
Trevor Williams (L 10-9)	7.0	4	1	1	2	4	1	3.53
Kyle Crick	1.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2.31
Keone Kela	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1.29
IBB - Kyle Schwarber (by Williams)
Pitches-Strikes - Trevor Williams 99-67, Kyle Crick 18-13, Keone Kela 16-10
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Trevor Williams 7-7, Kyle Crick 2-0, Keone Kela 2-0
Batters Faced - Trevor Williams 27, Kyle Crick 4, Keone Kela 5

BUCS HIT INTO 7 DPS, SPOILING WILLIAMS' EFFORT

RIGHTY FALLS SHORT IN 7-INNING DUEL WITH FELLOW HS ALUM HAMELS

The Pirates' scoreless streak reached 23 innings in frustrating fashion on Friday night, when a pitcher's best friend turned into the Bucs' worst enemy as they lost their second straight 1-0 decision to the Cubs at PNC Park.

The Pirates hit into a franchise-record-tying seven double plays -- also tying the MLB mark for a nine-inning game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau -- including six that ended innings. The Bucs have dropped five straight games, tying their longest losing streak of the season, and 13 of their last 21 to fall below .500 for the first time since July 15.

The Pirates haven't scored since the fourth inning of their 6-4 loss to the Twins on Wednesday afternoon, and they've put up only nine runs during this five-game skid. They out-hit the Cubs on Friday, 7-6, but their historic double-play output negated those efforts and another brilliant start by Trevor Williams.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, only double plays seemed to be contagious after a nearly two-hour rain delay. Veteran lefty Cole Hamels did not overpower Pittsburgh, recording only three strikeouts in seven innings, but over and over again, he forced the Bucs to put the ball on the ground in key situations.

David Freese finished the first inning with a double-play grounder to third baseman Javier Baez, and he bounced into a game-ender against right-hander Jesse Chavez. Josh Bell hit into two double plays. Dickerson and Gregory Polanco grounded into one each. Pinch-hitter Adam Frazier lined into a double play to end the eighth, too, as pinch-runner Kevin Newman was ruled out at first base after diving back to the bag.

The Cubs' consecutive combined shutouts spoiled a pair of excellent starts by Pittsburgh pitchers. On Thursday night, Ivan Nova's efficient outing went to waste. On Friday, Williams was on the wrong end of the pitchers' duel.

The only run Williams allowed came in the second inning, when Kyle Schwarber launched a high fastball into the right-field seats. But Williams allowed no further damage, due in part to his precise fastball location all over the strike zone. As Nova did on Thursday, Williams mixed high four-seam fastballs with sinkers down in the zone to keep the Cubs off-balance.

Williams' strong start continued an excellent run in which he has allowed only three runs in 36 innings over his last six starts, lowering his ERA to 3.53. But he couldn't single-handedly end the Pirates' losing streak.

SOUND SMART

The Pirates are the fourth team since at least 1908 to lose back-to-back 1-0 games in which a solo homer proved to be the difference each time. You don't have to look too far back to find the last instance, however. The Giants beat the Dodgers, 1-0, on a pair of Joe Panik homers on March 29-30.

• The Pirates last hit into seven double plays in a 7-5, 10-inning win over the Cardinals on June 16, 1994. They also grounded into six double plays in that game and hit into their final double play on a sacrifice fly.

TRAINER’S ROOM

CUBS: LHP Mike Montgomery (left shoulder inflammation) was placed on the 10-day DL and RHP Tyler Chatwood will move from the bullpen to start in his place Saturday night. LHP Randy Rosario was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take Montgomery’s roster spot. … RHP Yu Darvish (right triceps tendinitis/right shoulder impingement) will make a rehab start Sunday for Class A South Bend. He last pitched for Chicago on May 20. … 3B Kris Bryant (left shoulder inflammation) has started soft tosses but there is no timetable for his return.

PIRATES: RHP Chad Kuhl (right forearm strain) played catch for the first time since being injured June 26 in a start against the Mets at New York.

UP NEXT

CUBS: Chatwood (4-5, 5.06 ERA) made 19 starts before being shifted to relief in early August. He has issued a major league-high 90 walks in 99 2/3 innings.

PIRATES: RHP Joe Musgrove (4-7, 3.49) is 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA in four starts since the All-Star break.