Andrew McCutchen's clutch double lifts Pirates past Cubs

Andrew McCutchen drove in two runs with his lone hit to help the Pittsburgh Pirates snap a three-game slide with a 4-3 win against the visiting Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

With Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan Reynolds on base with two outs in the seventh, McCutchen delivered a double into center field to drive in the tying and game-winning runs.

Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski allowed two runs on six hits and struck out four in four innings. Reliever Caleb Ferguson (1-0) was perfect in 1 1/3 innings to earn the win and closer David Bednar gave up one hit and fanned one for the save.

Cubs reliever Caleb Thielbar (1-1) allowed McCutchen's go-ahead double, which bounced through the infield and caromed off shortstop Dansby Swanson's glove. Chicago starter Matthew Boyd gave up two runs on six hits, walked three and fanned six in five innings. Swanson went 3-for-4.

Down by two after four innings, the Cubs rallied to go ahead 3-2 in the fifth.

Swanson opened with a fly-ball single to right and Jon Berti drew a walk, leading Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton to replace Mlodzinski with lefty Ryan Borucki.

Ian Happ greeted Borucki with a single to center that drove in Swanson, cutting it to 2-1. Berti and Happ advanced to third and second, respectively, on a wild pitch, and Berti scored on Kyle Tucker's groundout to tie it 2-2. Happ made it 3-2 on another Borucki wild pitch.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Oneil Cruz lined a leadoff double off the right-field wall and moved to third on a passed ball. After Joey Bart drew a walk, Ke'Bryan Hayes singled to right to bring in Cruz.

They doubled it in the fourth. Bart led off with a double, then Hayes and Matt Gorski followed with singles to load the bases with nobody out. Tommy Pham struck out and Jared Triolo appeared to hit into an inning-ending double play as center fielder Pete Crow-Amstrong caught a fly ball and quickly fired home to get Bart. Pittsburgh challenged the ruling at the plate and it was overturned to make it 2-0.

--Field Level Media