Pedro Alvarez had two hits and two RBIs and the Pittsburgh Pirates overcame two home runs by Starlin Castro to beat the Chicago Cubs 7-6 on Tuesday night.
Russell Martin drove in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning for Pittsburgh and Jason Grilli closed with a perfect ninth.
Cubs right-hander Pedro Strop (0-1) walked two batters in the eighth and recorded only one out before being replaced by left-hander James Russell. Russell immediately walked Pedro Alvarez to load the bases and Martin followed with a fly ball to right field that made it 7-6.
The Cubs tied the game in the seventh against Tony Watson (1-0) on Anthony Rizzo's hit up the middle scoring Emilio Bonifacio, who went 3 for 5 and is batting .515.
Castro hit a game-tying three-run homer in the third and a solo shot in the sixth against Morton for his first career multi-homer game.
Cubs starting pitcher Edwin Jackson gave up six runs on nine hits in 4 2-3 innings. Jackson struggled with his command, walking four (one intentional) and hitting a batter. Pirates starter Charlie Morton didn't fare much better allowing five runs on eight hits in six innings.
Jackson's troubles began on the game's first pitch with a lead-off double by Starling Marte. It sparked a four-run inning and nine Pirates batted in the first.
Chicago Baseball
Alvarez doubled to score Marte and McCutchen for a 2-0 Pirates lead. Neil Walker added an RBI single and Travis Ishikawa's sacrifice fly made it 4-0.
Bonifacio's two-out single to center field in the second inning scored Ryan Sweeney from second base to cut the Pirates' lead to 4-1.
Two-out walks hurt Jackson in the fourth. Jackson put Marte and Travis Snider on base to bring up McCutchen, who came through with an RBI single to put the Pirates back ahead, 5-4. Ishikawa's triple in the fifth scored Martin, who doubled to start the inning, and extended Pittsburgh's lead to 6-4.
Cubs manager Rick Renteria was ejected in the top of the ninth inning by home plate umpire Jeff Nelson for arguing balls and strikes. It was Renteria's first ejection
