Watch: Jason Heyward, Addison Russell Lead Cubs To 14-3 Rout Of Pirates

Jason Heyward smacked a three-run homer in the first inning and Addison Russell recorded the first four-hit game of his career to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 14-3 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at PNC Park.

Cubs Rout Pirates 14-3 In Opener of Three-Game Series

The defending World Series champion Cubs (11-8, first in NL Central) lost their previous game, the finale of a three-game series against the Reds in Cincinnati, but won four games before that, two against the Reds and two against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Among Russell’s four hits was an RBI single in the first to attack Chad Kuhl and the rest of the Pirates’ bullpen, and the shortstop scored three other runs on six at-bats.

After scoring four runs with two outs in the first, Chicago added five more in the second. Ben Zobrist cleared the bases with a double to right, Heyward’s groundout plated another and lefty Brett Anderson singled to score Russell.

Although he allowed six walks and suffered two brief injury scares, Anderson delivered a strong performance by giving up three runs (one earned) on five hits over six innings.

“There’s no weak spots,” Anderson said of the Cubs’ lineup. “It’s got to be demoralizing for the [opposing] starters. I’m glad I’m on this side.

“Technically, it was a quality start, but in my mind it wasn’t very quality,” Anderson said. “I’d like to have a start where I don’t have to battle and grind.”

Cubs manager Joe Maddon seemed to agree that although Anderson wasn’t terrible, he wasn’t at his best either.

“Anderson wasn’t as sharp as he could be but he’s starting to show better signs,” said Maddon. “It was a really good game for him to build on.”

Kuhl allowed nine runs on eight hits and four walks while recording five outs to increase his ERA from 2.60 to 6.63. In 18 starts in the Majors, Kuhl has surrendered three or less runs in 15 of them. The other three have all come against the Cubs.

“You have to look at one of those things that kind of happens in baseball. You’re going to have these bad nights,” Kuhl said. “You can’t be a slave to the numbers, the ERA and stuff like that, because this is going to skew it for a while.”

The Cubs led 4-0 after Heyward’s three-run blast to right-center field in the first inning and 10-1 after just three frames. At that point, several Pittsburgh players began exiting the game. First, right-fielder Andrew McCutchen left, and then infielders David Freese and Jordy Mercer stepped off the field an inning later.

Javier Baez and Kris Bryant each scored in the two-run sixth to put the Cubs up 12-1, and also drove in the final two runs on a wild pitch in the seventh and a double play in the eighth. The double play was hit into by Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo and Baez were the only two Chicago players to not record hits on Monday, although Rizzo walked twice and scored twice while Baez hit a sacrifice fly for his RBI.

The Cubs, who had 17 hits in total, drew nine walks to bring their season total to 78.

Chicago’s last run came off the Pirates’ Lithuanian-born-and-raised reliever Dovydas Neverauskas, who was making his MLB debut. Neverauskas is the first player in major-league history who was born and raised in Lithuania. Outfielder Joe Zapustas, who grew up in Boston and played for the Philadelphia A’s in 1933, was the first Lithuanian-born person to play in the Majors.

Kyle Hendricks will start for the Cubs in Tuesday’s middle game of the series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. First pitch is at 7:05 pm EST. Hendricks allowed three runs over five innings in taking a loss to the Pirates at Wrigley Field on April 14.

Right-hander Gerrit Cole will start for the Pirates. Cole is coming off consecutive six-inning, two-run starts on the road against the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.

Article by Pablo Mena