Pirates 6, Cubs 2
Francisco Liriano recorded his team's first complete game of the year as visiting Pittsburgh won the opener of the three-game series.
Liriano (8-3) allowed two runs on four hits and helped himself with an RBI single en route to notching his second career complete game and beating Chicago for the third time this season. Starling Marte had three hits and scored twice and Garrett Jones and Jose Tabata each had two hits and an RBI as the Pirates improved to a major league-best 53-32.
The only blemish for Liriano was surrendering a two-run homer to Scott Hairston in the second, ending his 15-inning scoreless streak against the Cubs. Pittsburgh quickly erased that deficit in its next at-bat when Neil Walker tripled home a run and scored on Jones' single before Andrew McCutchen stole home as part of a delayed double steal for a 4-2 lead.
Cubs right-hander Jeff Samardzija (5-8) struggled through his six-inning stint, giving up five runs on nine hits. He struck out a season-low three and walked a season-high five in absorbing his third straight loss to the Pirates.
Pittsburgh tacked on a pair of insurance runs on Tabata's infield single in the fifth inning and McCutchen's RBI groundout in the eighth.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Liriano struck out seven and walked four. The only other time he went the distance came as a member of the Minnesota Twins on May 3, 2011, when he no-hit the Chicago White Sox. ... Cubs CF Brian Bogusevic (hamstring) was not in the lineup and is listed as day-to-day. ... Marte had his sixth multiple-hit game in his current 10-game hitting streak.