Cubs aim to stay on track with Pirates in town
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(SportsNetwork.com) - The Chicago Cubs eye a fifth straight win on Friday when they start a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.
Chicago finished off its first four-game sweep of the New York Mets in 23 years on Thursday, as Dexter Fowler scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball in the seventh inning and the Cubs rallied for a 6-5 win.
"Really proud of the way we are playing, up and down the lineup," said Chicago's Joe Maddon, who earned his 800th career managerial win.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fowler went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk and three runs scored for the Cubs, who erased a 5-1 deficit with a four-run rally in the fifth.
"When we get down nobody's panicking, nobody's saying, 'We can't do this,'" said Maddon, whose team scored in the eighth and ninth innings of Wednesday's 2-1 win. "I think there was a great believability in the group that we could do it, and obviously we did."
Hoping to keep the Cubs in the win column on Friday will be righty Kyle Hendricks, who is coming off his best outing of the season. Hendricks tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings in Milwaukee on Sunday, but had nothing to show for it, as he did not factor in the decision of his team's 3-2 loss.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hendricks' only decision this season came in a loss to the Bucs back on April 29. He is pitching to a 4.65 ERA in six starts this season and has allowed five runs and 10 hits in 10 1/3 frames to the Pirates.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, will turn to lefty Jeff Locke, who is 2-2 with a 4.71 ERA. Locke did not get a decision on Sunday against St. Louis, as he surrendered three runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings of a 4-3 win.
Locke couldn't get out of the fourth inning in a loss to the Cubs back on April 28 and is 1-2 lifetime against them with a 5.11 ERA in seven starts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pittsburgh enters this series on the heels of splitting a four-game set with the Philadelphia Phillies. After winning the first two games, the Pirates dropped the final two, including a 4-2 setback on Thursday.
Josh Harrison and Starling Marte each recorded three hits in the loss, with Marte driving in the Pirates' first run with a ninth-inning double.
"We had a chance to win the series but were not able to do it," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We didn't handle the ball as well as we should have. We've got a lot of work to do."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chicago has won four of its seven matchups with the Pirates this season.