Harrison went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs while Vance Worley (1-0) allowed three runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings for his first victory since May 11, 2013 and second in nearly two years. Mark Melancon struck out the side in the ninth to notch his 11th save for Pittsburgh, which won for the second time in its last six games.
Mercer began the scoring in the third with a leadoff homer off Travis Wood (7-6), who yielded three runs while throwing 99 pitches over 4 2/3 innings. The Cubs answered in the fourth on a two-run blast by Anthony Rizzo, who has five home runs and 14 RBIs in 19 games this month.
Pittsburgh regained the lead in the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles by Harrison and Andrew McCutchen before Brian Schlitter replaced Wood and retired Russell Martin to strand runners at the corners. Harrison added a two-out, two-run blast in the seventh off Justin Grimm, and Pittsburgh held on for its eighth win in 12 games against the Cubs this season.
Gregory Polanco went 1-for-3 with two runs scored to become the first Pittsburgh player ever to hit safely in his first 11 major-league games. Mercer went 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Pirates, who have won each of their last seven night games played at Wrigley Field.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The game began after a 2-hour, 14-minute rain delay. … The Pirates' Jose Tabata started in left field and went 0-for-3 in place of Starling Marte, who missed the contest while traveling to the Dominican Republic to deal with a private family matter. … Chicago, which was held to five hits, lost for the third time in its last 12 home games.
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Vance Worley | Player | Travis Wood |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.2 | IP | 4.2 |
4 | Strikeouts | 4 |
5 | Hits | 4 |
4.05 | ERA | 5.79 |
Pittsburgh | Chi. Cubs | |
Josh Harrison | Player | Darwin Barney |
2 | Hits | 1 |
3 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .333 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Pittsburgh | 7 | 2 | 13 | .219 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Chi. Cubs | 5 | 1 | 10 | .156 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |