Pirates try to rebound vs. Cubs behind Liriano
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The Pittsburgh Pirates have a good chance at getting back on track with Francisco Liriano set to take the mound Friday in the opener of a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
The Pirates will turn to the left-hander after losing two of three at home to the Philadelphia Phillies following a season-high nine-game winning streak.
Liriano has won two straight and four of five starts and the Pirates are 7-3 when he pitches this season. He previously took the hill in last Saturday's 2-1 win versus Milwaukee and hurled six innings of one-run ball, striking out six and walking just three batters. Liriano has allowed two runs or less in all but two of his outings this season and is 7-3 with a 2.23 ERA.
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The southpaw is 2-0 with no ERA against the Cubs in 2013, spanning 14 innings. In three career starts against Chicago, Liriano is 2-1 with a 1.83 ERA.
Pittsburgh was hoping its young hurler Gerrit Cole could remain unbeaten and pitch the club to a series win Thursday, but he dropped to 4-1 after yielding three runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.
"I thought he pitched well," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said of Cole. "He's a 22-year-old young man. He's still learning, continuing to grow. He's fun to watch."
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Andrew McCutchen had two RBI and Starling Marte collected two hits and two runs scored in defeat. Pittsburgh still has the best record in baseball at 52-32.
The Pirates will put their six-game road winning streak on the line and are still two games ahead of St. Louis for the NL Central lead.
Chicago is back at Wrigley Field following a nine-game road trip (5-4) and just lost two of three against the Oakland Athletics.
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In a 1-0 loss Thursday at the Coliseum, the A's scored the only run of the game in the seventh inning on a passed ball. Derek Norris charged home for what proved to be the game-winning run and Travis Wood's six shutout innings with five K's were wasted. Wood allowed only three hits and walked one.
"It was a shame, six shutout innings and three hits," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of Wood's performance. "He pitched another great ball game."
The Cubs have lost each of Wood's last six starts.
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Starlin Castro and Alfonso Soriano each had a hit in the loss.
Hoping to get the Cubs back in the win column Friday will be hard-throwing right-hander Jeff Samardzija. He is 2-0 in his past four outings and did not record a decision in last Saturday's 5-3 win at Seattle, where he delivered seven solid innings of two-run ball.
Samardzija is 5-7 in 17 starts to go along with a 3.34 earned run average and is 1-2 with a 2.14 ERA in three starts against the Pirates this season. He has faced Pittsburgh 16 times (5 starts) in his career and owns a 4-2 mark with a superb 1.56 ERA in that time.
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The Cubs, though, are 3-6 against Pittsburgh this season.