Michael Perez and Bligh Madris each homered Tuesday to help the Pittsburgh Pirates to their third straight win, a 7-1 victory over the visiting Chicago Cubs.
The Pirates have won the first two games of a four-game series by a combined 19-2 score.
Daniel Vogelbach added an RBI double and RBI single, and Oneil Cruz delivered an RBI single for the Pirates.
Pittsburgh starter Roansy Contreras (2-1), making his seventh start in his 10th big-league game, allowed one run and four hits in five innings, with three strikeouts and two walks.
Patrick Wisdom hit a solo homer for the Cubs, who have lost three in a row and 13 of 15.
Chicago starter Matt Swarmer (1-3), making his fifth major-league start, gave up five runs (four earned) and five hits in four innings, with five strikeouts and two walks.
In the first, Ke’Bryan Hayes led off for Pittsburgh with a triple to left and scored on Bryan Reynolds’ sacrifice fly to right for a 1-0 lead.
The Pirates got another in the second when Perez hit a two-out homer to right-center to make it 2-0.
In the third, Reynolds singled to right-center with one out. After Jack Suwinski walked, Vogelbach drove in Reynolds with a base hit to right. An out later, Cruz singled to right to bring Suwinski home for a 4-0 lead. Cruz drew an errant throw to second by catcher Willson Contreras on a steal attempt, allowing Vogelbach to score to make it 5-0.
Wisdom led off the fourth with his 13th homer, to center, to cut it to 5-1.
Against Brandon Hughes in the fifth, Suwinski drew a one-out walk and scored on Vogelbach’s double to right for a 6-1 lead.
In the sixth against Mark Leiter Jr., Madris led off with his first career homer in his second career game. The blast to right-center made it 7-1.
Madris and Cruz, both recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on Monday, have combined to go 7-for-17 with eight RBIs in their two games.
–Field Level Media
