Pitching-thin Pirates get swept by Chicago

Pittsburgh has lost six straight to the Cubs.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — After needing the equivalent of three games merely to win twice in Pittsburgh, what a relief this regulation game was to the Chicago Cubs. Almost as big as the relief Jon Lieber gave them.

Geovany Soto and Mike Fontenot hit two-run homers in Chicago’s five-run sixth inning and the Cubs finished off a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh, winning 7-3 Thursday night to run their winning streak to five games.

Soto had three extra-base hits, including two doubles, among his second career four-hit game, and Derrek Lee also drove in two runs despite not getting a hit as the Cubs won their sixth in a row over the Pirates dating to last season.

Lieber (2-1) got the decision by pitching 41‚Ñ3 scoreless relief innings after starter Rich Hill needed 72 pitches to get through three innings, allowing three runs and three hits and walking four. Lieber pitched 71‚Ñ3 scoreless relief innings in the series, three of them during a 10-8, 12-inning win Monday in the Pirates’ home opener.

“Without Lieber, we really would have had problems,” manager Lou Piniella said. “We were looking for innings. ... [Hill] was all over the place. There was no use keeping him in there. It wasn’t going to get any better.”

The Cubs certainly didn’t need to look for innings earlier in the series.

After going 12 and 15 innings to win the first two games — the first time in 81 years they’ve needed that many innings to win consecutive road games — the Cubs won this with one big inning against the pitching-thin Pirates, who dropped their fifth in six games.

“I’m glad it didn’t go [extra innings],” said Soto, who went 8-of-17 while catching all 36 innings in the series — apparently with no effect on his offense.

The Cubs withstood two Pirates homer-driven comebacks to win 6-4 in 15 innings Wednesday night.

“I think any situation like that, if anybody can go in there and do that, it’s definitely huge,” Lieber, a converted starter, said of propping up the bullpen. “You want to give those guys a break down there, especially after last night’s ball game.”

After emptying their bullpen in consecutive games, the Pirates needed a lot of innings from starter Matt Morris (0-1), who lasted seven but gave up 11 hits and seven runs, four earned.