*Photo from Yahoo Sports*
Something about this matchup always leaves the same team on top. Mike Tauchman drove in 3 runs, Nico Hoerner added two more, and the Chicago Cubs defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 8-0 shutout win on Monday in Pittsburgh.
The win gives the streaking Cubs 8 wins in their last 10 games, but they are still 4th in the NL Central with a 34-38 record. After sweeping the Pirates last week, the Cubs beat them again on Monday to improve to 4-0 against them this season.
Cubs starter Drew Smyly said that "The energy is high. We have a lot of confidence. I don’t think we ever lost our confidence. There are a lot of veterans on our team that realize it’s a marathon, it’s a long race. You’re going to have slumps. You’re going to have stretches where things aren’t going your way, but it’s been really nice to see how we’ve turned ground. We're just playing good baseball right now."
Tauchman gave the Cubs an early 2-0 lead in the second with a two run single to center field. Nico Hoerner then drove in another run with a single to center right after, pushing the Cubs lead to 3-0. It stayed that way until the 7th inning, when Tauchman added another RBI single, scoring Nick Madrigal to make it 4-0.
Later in the 7th, Dansby Swanson made the lead 5-0 for the Cubs with an RBI single of his own. Yan Gomes scored on a throwing error in the 8th to make it a 6-0 game. Madrigal scored on a groundout from Hoerner to make the score 7-0. Seiya Suzuki punctuated the win with an RBI double to make the final score 8-0 in favor of the Cubs.
Cubs manager David Ross said of Tauchman's 3 RBI's that "Our offense has started going because of his presence up there. Just a calm bat. He’s got some experience. He, you know, feels like he controls the strike zone really well, works the count and you know, he's a smart base runner."
Smyly was the starter for the Cubs, and turned in a good start with 5 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits and striking out 4. Michael Fulmer and Julian Merryweather provided an inning apiece after Smyly departed, with Michael Rucker throwing the final two to secure the win.
Osvaldo Bido drew the start for the Pirates, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, striking out 7 in 6 innings pitched. Ryan Borucki allowed two runs and only got one out, needing Yohan Ramirez to pitch the next 1 1/3 innings. Yerry De Los Santos got the final 4 outs for the Pirates.
The biggest story of the day for the Pirates came on a roster move. Catcher and outfielder Henry Davis, who the team chose first overall in the 2021 MLB Draft, made his much anticipated major league debut. He went 1-3 and drew a walk in his debut in what the team hopes is the start of good things to come.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of the timing of the callup that "The reason we called him up is because we think he can help us win. We have not played well over the last week. We have not played well offensively over the last week. So, I think he can help us."
The series continues on Tuesday night. Marcus Stroman starts for the Cubs as they go for the series win, while the Pirates counter with Johan Oviedo.
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