Patrick Wisdom's Three-Run Blast Propels Chicago Cubs to Win Over Pirates

The Chicago Cubs won the season series against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a clinical 8-3 victory.

The Chicago Cubs picked up their 67th win of the season and clinched a series victory as they cruised to an 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The win gave the Cubs the season series victory as well.

The game was a rock fight early on, with neither team drawing first blood through four innings. The Cubs managed just one hit off of Pittsburgh starter Luis Ortiz through four innings while the Pirates themselves had just two knocks off of Chicago starter Adrian Sampson.

The fifth inning appeared to be heading in the same direction, with Ortiz retiring the first two batters of the inning before Cubs shortstop Zach McKinstry worked a five-pitch walk to get aboard. 

Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton then lifted Ortiz, who finished with seven strikeouts and just three baserunners allowed over 4.2 innings. Manny Banuelos couldn't get the final out, however, walking Esteban Quiroz and bringing up third baseman Patrick Wisdom who cashed in on the two-out rally with a three-run moon shot, Wisdom's 25th of the year, to give Chicago a 3-0 lead. 

One of those 1.000 xBA swings.#DailyWisdom pic.twitter.com/Onpf4OAUgj

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 25, 2022

The Cubs went into cruise control from there, as outside of Bryan Reynolds solo shot, Adrian Sampson tore through the Pirates lineup. Pittsburgh took just three at-bats with runners in scoring position and went 0-for-3 in such plate appearances. 

Sampson finished with another quality start, allowing just one run on four hits and no walks over six innings while striking out three. The righty has also allowed just three runs in his last four starts.

The Cubs tacked on three more runs in the seventh on an Ian Happ RBI single followed by a fielding error by Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz that scored two more runs. Pittsburgh committed four errors, two on Cruz, and two on catcher Jason Delay, throughout the game, directly leading to three runs being scored.

Two more Chicago runs crossed in the eighth, one on a throwing error committed by Delay, and the other on an RBI single from Quiroz, who is now slashing .333/.440/.333 since being called up from Triple-A Iowa. 

The Pirates scratched across a couple of runs in the ninth and loaded the bases with two outs, but lefty reliever Brandon Hughes retired Diego Castillo to hold on for an 8-3 victory and to pick up his seventh save of the year.

The Cubs have an off-day Monday before facing the Philadelphia Phillies at 6:40 p.m. CDT Tuesday at Wrigley Field. Chicago will send Marcus Stroman (4-7, 3.80 ERA) to the mound against Zack Wheeler (11-7, 2.98 ERA). 

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