Pirates denied sweep of Cubs

Associated Press

CHICAGO

Randy Wells is done with allowing off-field distractions get in way of his pitching.

Wells pitched six innings and Marlon Byrd drove in two runs as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.

Wells (7-4) allowed one run while scattering seven hits. He struck out two and walked two. He is 6-1 over his last eight outings after going 0-3 with a 7.38 ERA in his first nine starts once returning from the disabled list.

In the last month, Well is pitching more like his 2009 season, when he led all rookies with a 3.05 ERA.

“It’s a tough thing. You guys keep asking me about who I was in 2009. I wasn’t any different in 2010. It was just a tough year, I grinded it out, I made every start, got close to 200 innings. Some things just didn’t go my way,” said Wells. “There was a lot of stuff off the field that was said and thrown out there that was false. I had to deal with that for the first time in my career. It was a tough thing, it was a learning process and I think this year you just learn to put all things that go on off the field and what is said about you to the side and concentrate on what you need to do.”

Cubs reliever Sean Marshall pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save in eight chances. Cubs closer Carlos Marmol had the day off after blowing Saturday’s save and throwing 39 pitches.

Chicago won just for the third time in 10 games.

Pirates starter Charlie Morton (9-9) allowed four runs, three earned on seven hits. He struck out two and walked five and was done in by two errors by shortstop Ronny Cedeno.

“It’s obviously command issues. I couldn’t get my sinker in the zone,” said Morton. “My mentality is the exact same. My mentality is be aggressive and attack guys with my sinker.”

Neil Walker hit a two-run shot in the eighth and Derrek Lee had three hits for the Pirates, who have lost six of eight.

“What’s tough is when you put 10 guys on base without having to hit the ball. We were sloppy on the mound, we were sloppy on the field,” said Pirates manager Clint Hurdle. “There’s no excuses, we didn’t play a good game today.”