8/1 Recap | Pirates 8 Cubs 4

The Pirates won another series this afternoon beating the Cubs 8 to 4. Jeff Karstens had a decent outing, pitching five innings, allowing only one run, and striking out four. Chris Resop, Tony Watson, Jared Hughes, and Jason Grilli all pitched out of the bullpen all gave scoreless outings. Joel Hanrahan had a rough time closing it out, but with the seven run cushion he had, the three runs he allowed didn't affect much.

Starling Marte hit a solo home run in the third inning and Andrew McCutchen scored on a balk later on in the inning. Not much came around until the top of the eighth inning when Garrett Jones had a two run single and Michael McKenry followed up two batters later with a three-run home run. The Pirates batted around on the inning and were able to push one more across in the ninth as well.

Using six pitchers in a game is never a good sign, but the off day tomorrow should help that out. The Pirates open up a huge three games series in Cincinnati Friday night.