Cubs take advantage of Pirates' bullpen with 5-run 5th inning to sweep series

The Pittsburgh Pirates have problems in their bullpen, as injuries have turned a strength into an area of concern, and short stints by their starting pitchers against the Chicago Cubs haven’t helped.

Johan Oviedo recorded eight strikeouts but it came at a cost to his pitch count, as he was pulled with one out in the fifth after throwing 100 pitches. It marked the third consecutive start that the Pirates starting pitcher didn’t complete six innings.

The Cubs took advantage with a five-run fifth inning to cruise to a 7-2 win Thursday night at Wrigley Field to sweep the series after the Pirates blew leads in all three games.

The Pirates (34-33) maintained a half-game lead in the NL Central over the Milwaukee Brewers (34-34), who have lost six consecutive games, with the Cincinnati Reds (34-35) and Cubs (31-37) closing in. The Pirates visit the Brewers on Friday for a three-game series.

“We need to wash through this,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “We didn’t play well in this series. We just need to move on and get to Milwaukee.”

The Cubs outscored the Pirates, 28-11, in the series, scoring three runs or more in six different innings over the three games.

“We’ve just got to stay away from the big inning,” Shelton said. “We had big innings in all three games in this series.”

The Pirates got bad news when setup man when Colin Holderman was placed on the 15-day injured list with right wrist inflammation. They recalled right-hander Yerry De Los Santos from Triple-A Indianapolis but still had a shortage of available arms. A day after using five relievers in Wednesday’s 10-6 loss, they leaned heavily on the bullpen again.

Cubs starter Marcus Stroman (8-4) earned his sixth consecutive win, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five while pitching six innings. It was the 13th time in 15 starts that Stroman went at least six innings and delivered a quality start.

The Pirates scored a pair of runs off Stroman in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. Ji Hwan Bae hit a leadoff single, advanced to third on Jason Delay’s single and scored on Tucupita Marcano’s flare to left for a 1-0 lead, and Carlos Santana drove in Delay with a groundout to first.

The Cubs answered in the bottom of the third and cut it to 2-1 when Nico Hoerner drew a walk, stole second base and scored on Ian Happ’s single. After giving up a triple to Christopher Morel and hitting Nick Madrigal with a pitch, Oviedo got out of a jam in the fourth by striking out Tucker Barnhart and Mike Tauchman.

By then, however, Oviedo (3-6) had thrown 87 pitches. The Cubs knocked him out in the fifth, after Happ drove in Hoerner with a double to the left field corner to tie the game and Dansby Swanson followed with a single.

Lefty Jose Hernandez replaced Oviedo but gave up an RBI double to Cody Bellinger to drive in Happ as the Cubs took a 3-2 lead, and Morel singled to third to score Swanson. After Bellinger scored on Madrigal’s sacrifice bunt for a three-run lead, Hernandez walked Barnhart and Tauchman to load the bases. De Los Santos got Hoerner to hit a bouncer to shortstop, but Marcano bobbled the ball and allowed Morel to score.

Happ tripled to start the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Morel as the Cubs stretched their lead to five runs.

“The biggest thing is we got ahead in counts at times, got 0-2, 1-2, then ended up in 3-2 counts,” Shelton said. “Then we have to execute a pitch on the plate. We’ve got to do a better job of putting guys away earlier in the counts.”

After giving up two runs, Stroman responded with an eight-pitch fourth inning. The right-hander retired the final 11 batters he faced, throwing strikes on 61 of his 96 pitches.

“He executes pitches. Exactly what we knew he was going to do,” Shelton said. “We did a good job in the third in making him work. Then he went right back out in the fourth and threw eight pitches. That’s what he does. He did a good job staying on the plate and a good job expanding off the plate.”