After a demoralizing loss last night the Cubs looked to increase their offensive production  in today’s days tilt Vs the Pirates. The Cubs would face the Pirates third starter James McDonald ,and the cubs would send out Travis Wood.The Cubs got the scoring going in the third inning as Starlin Castro hit an RBI single to score Travis Wood from second. The game remained 1-0 Cubs until the top of the ninth when Nate Schierholtz gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead by hitting a two run homer heading into the bottom of the ninth. You would think that the Cubs had this one in the bag , but hold on Carlos Marmol’s struggles continued as he gave up two runs.  The pirates then had runners on the corners with no one out, and were almost certainly going to tie the game.
Starling Marte singled and Russell Martin walked to start the inning. Andrew McCutchen and Gaby Sanchez followed with consecutive run-scoring singles. Sveum stuck with Marmol and he responded by striking out Alvarez on three pitches then getting Walker to ground  to second base, allowing the Cubs to turn the double play to end the game. The Cubs avoid another Marmol meltdown costing them a W for the second time in this very young season. The Cubs improved to 2-1 for the first time since the 2009 season.
The Cubs take on the Atlanta Braves tomorrow to start a three game weekend series at Turner Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 pm central time. The pitching match up is scheduled to be Mike Minor for the Braves and Scott Feldman for the Cubs.