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Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler breaks up a double play attempt by Jordy Mercer in the third inning Wednesday at PNC Park.
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Cubs cap sweep of Pirates with 6-2 victory

Lake Fong/Post-Gazette

Cubs cap sweep of Pirates with 6-2 victory

Oh, sure, the Pirates’ three-game sweep against the Chicago Cubs contained nuance, finer points to dissect, elements instructional for future reference. But manager Clint Hurdle summarized the big picture nicely.

“We weren’t able to get it done when we needed to get it done,” he said. “That’s a fact.”

Wednesday’s series finale, a 6-2 loss to the Cubs at PNC Park, ended a three-game beatdown by the team Vegas favors to win the World Series, the team that beat the Pirates in the most recent wild-card game and one of two obstacles to the NL Central title. The Cubs improved to 20-6. The Pirates (15-13) have lost four in a row.

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The Cubs outpitched and outhit the Pirates, outscoring them 20-5. Leading the way was Anthony Rizzo, who went 7 for 14 with five doubles and a homer in the series. The Cubs made use of the large number of leadoff batters the Pirates allowed on base. The Pirates, meanwhile, missed opportunities to close the gap.

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“These past three, we’ve had opportunities but we didn’t play our best baseball,” Andrew McCutchen said. “We can all look at that and know that it wasn’t the type of baseball that we played prior to coming here. That’s all that it is. We just got to be better at coming through in big, key situations.”

Eighteen of 27 Cubs leadoff batters reached base in the series, including the first three batters to lead off the first three innings in each game, which helps explain the fact that none of the Pirates’ starters pitched more than five innings. In 14 combined innings, Gerrit Cole, Jon Niese and Juan Nicasio allowed 23 hits and 16 runs, 12 earned, with 12 strikeouts and 12 walks.

“They were doing to our starters what we’ve been able to do to other starters,” Hurdle said.

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Wednesday, Nicasio (3-3) left after allowing eight hits in 41/3 innings. Only one of the four runs he allowed was earned, thanks to a dropped ball by Andrew McCutchen that extended an inning.

Nicasio stranded the leadoff men he put on base in the first two innings, but couldn’t in the third, after he walked Dexter Fowler. Tommy La Stella reached base on a fielder’s choice, and Kris Bryant hit a weak liner for the second out.

McCutchen made a sliding catch on Rizzo’s liner to center field, but as he slid, his glove hit the ground and the ball came out. Rather that going as the third out, the play, which was ruled an error, extended the inning. Ben Zobrist hit the next pitch out to right-center field for a three-run homer.

“He smoked it. It was a knuckleball. It knuckled at me,” McCutchen said. “I did what I could to try and catch it. Whoever scored that an error should be fired. That’s unbelievable.”

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Nicasio couldn’t put batters away. Javier Baez fell behind 0-2 in the second before singling. The next batter, Addison Russell, was 0-2 before walking. Nicasio was ahead of Rizzo 0-2 before Rizzo doubled in the fifth.

“When I had two strikes, I tried to make a good pitch and [they] didn’t swing,” Nicasio said.

Preview- http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/video/series-recap-chicago-cubs-vs-pittsburgh-pirates/y8t59a8h00cp1fzq481lhyd3e

Opportunities went wasted against Jon Lester (3-1). The Pirates loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth. Two strikeouts and a pop-out later, they failed to score. Singles by Jordy Mercer and McCutchen put runners on the corners with one out in the fifth; strikeouts by David Freese and Starling Marte ensured the runners stayed where they were.

Lester pitched 52/3 scoreless innings.

“[Wednesday] I thought we had pitches to hit,” Hurdle said. “We had two ‘push’ innings. In the push innings, we ended up with four strikeouts and a pop fly.”

Matt Joyce hit a pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning. He has four homers this season, three of them during pinch-hit appearances.

After an off day Thursday, the Pirates travel to St. Louis to face the Cardinals, who after a poor start to the season against the Pirates have regained their form and, like the Cubs, are smacking the ball all over the yard.

Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.

First Published: May 4, 2016, 8:05 p.m.
Updated: May 4, 2016, 10:03 p.m.

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