Chicago Cubs sweep Pittsburgh Pirates, clinch playoff berth
Trending
PITTSBURGH -- Ian Happ homered and drove in three runs, and the Chicago Cubs clinched their first postseason berth since 2020 with an 8-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.
Chicago has won four in a row and seven of eight overall. It leads the NL wild-card standings with an 88-64 record.
Nico Hoerner had two hits and scored three times for the Cubs. Justin Turner hit a pair of RBI singles after entering in the sixth.
The Cubs grabbed control with three runs in the sixth, helped by errors on Pirates reliever Yohan Ramirez (1-3) and catcher Joey Bart. Michael Busch drove in Dansby Swanson with a tiebreaking sacrifice fly, and Happ and Turner added run-scoring singles.
Aaron Civale (4-9) pitched three scoreless innings for the win.
Chicago scored four runs in the first before Pittsburgh recorded an out. Busch walked and scored on a balk before Happ hit his 23rd homer, a two-run drive on a curveball from Johan Oviedo that prompted an early mound visit. Moises Ballesteros drove the next pitch over the wall in right for his second career homer.
Bart answered with a three-run shot off Matthew Boyd in the bottom half. Andrew McCutchen's bases-loaded walk in the second tied it at 4.
Boyd permitted seven hits and walked two in a season-low three innings.
Key moment
Bart attempted to catch Swanson trying to steal second in the sixth. But Swanson would have advanced anyway on a called ball four to Matt Shaw. The throw went into the outfield and Swanson went to third before scoring on Busch's flyball to right.
Key stat
Chicago went 10-3 against Pittsburgh in the season series.
Up next
The Cubs head to Cincinnati for a four-game series against the Reds beginning on Thursday.
The Pirates face the Athletics on Friday, opening a three-game series that will conclude their home schedule.
Treatment needed
PITTSBURGH -- Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker has traveled to Florida for additional treatment on his injured left calf. He went there Wednesday, the same day Chicago clinched its first playoff berth since 2020 with an 8-4 win over Pittsburgh.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell says the four-time All-Star had plateaued in his recovery from the calf strain that has kept him out of the lineup since coming out of a game Sept. 2. He is hitting .270 with 22 homers and 73 RBIs in 133 games.
Counsell says Tucker will rejoin the team next week for the last six regular-season games at home.
Perez leaves game
CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox left-hander Martin Perez exited his start against Baltimore because of left shoulder soreness.
Perez, who missed nearly four months this season because of a flexor tendon strain, called timeout after throwing a 2-2 pitch with two outs in the fourth inning of Chicago's 3-1 loss. He departed after he was visited on the mound by manager Will Venable and an athletic trainer.
The 34-year-old Perez is in his 14th big league season, his first with the White Sox.