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Pirates rip Cubs, earn sweep behind 19 hits

Sep 8, 2014 - 4:41 AM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Pirates starting pitcher Gerrit Cole hit one of Pittsburgh's four homers in a 10-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

Cole's two-run homer in the seventh was the first of his career. Cole (8-5) allowed four runs -- three earned -- on nine hits while striking out eight over six-plus innings.

Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker and Jordy Mercer also homered for the Pirates, who pounded out a season-high 19 hits to complete a three-game sweep. Every Pittsburgh starter had a hit.

Travis Wood (8-12) gave up seven runs on nine hits over just 1 2/3 innings for the Cubs.

"It wasn't his day today," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "They came out swinging."

Walker got Pittsburgh's offense going with a two-run homer in the first. McCutchen scored on Walker's blast to left after singling one at-bat prior.

The Pirates tacked on five more runs in the second. Gaby Sanchez led off with a double and raced home on Starling Marte's single to left. Mercer and McCutchen followed with back-to-back homers. Jose Tabata added an RBI single later in the inning.

Pittsburgh took an 8-0 lead on Sanchez's RBI single in the fourth.

Mike Olt's run-scoring single in the fifth and Welington Castillo's RBI double in the sixth cut the gap to 8-2.

After Cole homered in the top of the seventh, Matt Szczur hit a two-run single in the bottom half.

Game Notes

Pittsburgh improved to 12-4 against the Cubs this year, including a 7-2 mark at Wrigley Field ... McCutchen, Walker and Sanchez each had three hits for the Pirates ... Olt had three of Chicago's 10 hits.