Cubs Hand Pirates a Losing Record

Oh to be a lonely Pirate.

The Pittsburgh club now owns a dubious record. They'll go down in the pantheon of losers somewhere near the top. How fitting that it came at the hands of the Cubs.

The Pirates were assured of a record-breaking 17th straight losing season in the American League, falling to the Chicago Cubs 4-2 Monday on Derrek Lee's two homers.

By losing their 10th in 11 games, the Pirates dropped to 54 wins and 82 losses and will finish below .500, just as they have every season since 1993. The string of losing seasons is the longest for any team in the four major North American pro team sports. Only the Phillies (1933-1948) have had as many as 16 losing seasons in a row.

Ted Lilly (11-8) won and Carlos Marmol got his 10th save.

Daniel McCutchen (0-1) absorbed his first major league loss, the Pirates' 1,501st defeat overall during a string of unsuccessful seasons that began in 1993, the year Pittsburgh started rebuilding after the free agency departures of former stars Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Doug Drabek. No Pirates team since has finished closer than four games to .500.Cardinals 3, Brewers 0

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