Cubs Small-Ball Sweeps Pirates; Marquis Hurls Seven Shutout Innings

Pittsburgh, PA (AHN) - Chicago cooled down its red-hot bats in its final meeting against Pittsburgh this season, blanking the Pirates 2-0 for its third three-game sweep Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park.

After bombing out the Pirates in the first two games 26-12, the streaking Cubs went conservative this time but were nonetheless victorious in the end, sailing to their fifth straight win that improved their league-best mark to 83-50.

Pittsburgh starter Zach Duke (4-13) calmly tamed the Cubs' bats through eight innings but Chicago's man up front, Jason Marquis (9-7), had the more efficient stint on the mound.

The veteran right-hander allowed just five hits through seven innings before Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood joined in for the shutout win. Wood saved his 27th game and had two strikeouts in the ninth.

Both of Chicago's runs reached home in the seventh, thanks to a pair of infield hits. Ronny Cedeno delivered a soft grounder to third to score Reed Johnson, then Henry Blanco turned in a nice squeeze bunt that allowed Mark DeRosa to cross the plate.

The Cubs, winners of five straight, thus wrapped up a nine-game stretch against sub-.500 clubs with a 7-2 mark.

They next face winning teams in 27 of the final 29 regular-season games, with the surging Philadelphia Phillies first on tap beginning Thursday night at Wrigley Field.

Pittsburgh made five hits, two from catcher Raul Chavez. The Pirates have now lost seven in a row to fall 26 games off the Cubs' pace in the NL Central.

Pittsburgh next faces wild-card leader Milwaukee in a three-game series that starts Friday night.