For at least one start, Jeff Locke unearthed his first-half self.
Behind a strong outing from Locke, the Pirates defeated the Chicago Cubs, 3-1, at PNC Park Thursday night, their fourth win in a row.
Locke (10-5) finished seven innings and allowed one run on three hits. He walked only one batter, his lowest walk total since July 31, and struck out five.
Locke had not finished six innings since July 26 and struggled, putting too many men on base.
Locke allowed base runners in two innings, the third and the fourth, Thursday night. he retired every batter he faced in his other five innings of work.
Cubs starter Chris Rusin needed only 79 pitches to finish seven innings. He allowed four Pirates hits in the fourth inning, leading to two runs, but no hits anywhere else.
Locke held the Cubs hitless until the third, when Darnell McDonald led off with a double that bounced over the wall in left-center field. A ground ball allowed McDonald to take third. Locke had two strikes on Starlin Castro, but allowed an RBI single that gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead.
The Pirates responded in the bottom half. Andrew McCutchen’s double bounced off third base, driving Jordy Mercer, who had singled, to third. Mercer ran on contact on Justin Morneau’s broken-bat grounder right to Rusin and was thrown out. After that, though, consecutive singles from Marlon Byrd and Pedro Alvarez each brought home a run.
Locke retired the first two batters in the fourth before a poor throw from Pedro Alvarez, ruled an infield single, put Junior Lake on base. Locke walked Welington Castillo. Darnell McDonald hit a blooper to shallow right field, but Justin Morneau caught it over his shoulder to save a run and end the inning.
Two terrific defensive plays aided Locke Thursday night. With two outs in the sixth inning, Donnie Murphy hit a grounder between second and third. Mercer backhanded the ball, jumped, turned and threw to first, just in time to beat the runner.
At the beginning of the next inning, Junior Lake hit a hard liner to shallow center field. McCutchen, running in and to his left, laid out to make the catch and rob Lake of a hit.
Jordy Mercer’s RBI double off Blake Parker in the eighth scored Clint Barmes and gave the Pirates an insurance run.
Tony Watson pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Mark Melancon earned his 14th save. He allowed two base runners in the ninth, but stranded them there.
First Published: March 24, 2016, 5:12 p.m.
