Pirates Complete the Sweep of the Cubs as Makeshift Lineup Gets 16 Hits

A night after eliminating the Cubs from playoff contention, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed the sweep of their division rival with a lineup one would not expect to garner much offense.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were without most of their best players during the series with the Chicago Cubs, but it didn't stop them from completing the sweep on Thursday night. If you watched the game, you didn't see Josh Bell, Brian Reynolds, Starling Marte, Elias Diaz, and Colin Moran. Instead you saw a lineup that warranted very low expectations from the Pirate's faithful.

However, that lineup produced 16 hits and 9 runs. Joe Musgrove was mostly dominate on the mound (6 IP, 3 hits, 2 BBs, 2 ER) as the Pirates beat the Cubs 9-5 in Pittsburgh one night after officially eliminating Chicago from playoff contention.

The 2, 3, 4, 5 hitters (Frazier, Cabrera, Osuna, and Reyes) combined for 11 hits and 5 RBIs, and the bullpen got the job done for the most part. Chris Stratton struggled in his 2/3 of an inning - allowing 2 runs on 3 hits, but once Williams Jerez and Parker Markel took over, the Cubs didn't get another basrunner.

The Pirates will begin their final series of the season tonight, at home against the Cincinnati Reds. Steven Brault will take the mound for the final time against the Red's right-hander, Anthony Desclafani.

We should expect that same, or similar, lineup that played last night to go the rest of the way for the Pirates. Many of the names mentioned in the first paragraph of this article have been shut down for the rest of the season.