Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Josh Harrison stroked a two-run homer and drove in three to help lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-3 win against the Chicago Cubs in the middle contest of a three-game set at Wrigley Field on Saturday.
Jordy Mercer connected on a solo shot and scored two runs while Andrew McCutchen collected an RBI for the Pirates, who lost four of their last five coming in.
In his second start of the season, Vance Worley (1-0) tossed an effective 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with four strikeouts to pick up his first win in over a year.
Travis Wood (7-6) surrendered three runs on four hits and three walks while fanning four in just 4 2/3 innings to absorb the loss.
"I got a little wild there for a little bit," Wood said. "I brought the ball up a little bit where they could find some holes and put runs on the board."
Anthony Rizzo crushed a two-run home run for the Cubs, who had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Mercer smacked a leadoff solo shot to left in the third to put the Pirates on the board first.
Chris Coghlan's base hit to start the fourth was the Cubs first hit of the game. The second hit came two batters later when Rizzo smashed a two-run homer deep over the ivy in right to put the Cubs ahead 2-1.
Harrison's two-out single to center in the fifth plated Mercer, who started the inning with a base hit. McCutchen followed with an RBI single to left that scored Gregory Polanco, who was walked to reach base, to make it 3-2.
An overturned challenge on a Polanco two-out, infield single kept the seventh inning alive and Harrison followed with a home run to right to increase the cushion to 5-2.
"He's got speed," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said of the young Polanco. "He's smart with it. He gets down the line. The reason he was able to be safe was he got out of the box."
The Cubs got a run back in the home half on a Eli Whiteside double to center. Junior Lake singled and was moved to second on a force out.
Mark Melancon struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 11th save of the season.
Game Notes
The game started with a two hour and one minute rain delay ... It was Rizzo's 15th homer of the season ... Polanco extended his hit streak to 11 games to begin his career, going 1-for-3 with two runs scored ... Coghlan's single in the fourth was his 400th career hit ... Chicago went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position ... The Cubs have a chance to win their third straight series with a victory against Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.