NATIONAL LEAGUE

Pirates, Cubs continue to head different directions

PITTSBURGH - It was hard to tell whether the Pittsburgh Pirates were heading on a road trip or getting ready for a Stanley Cup playoff game after beating the Chicago Cubs 4-2 on Thursday for their fourth consecutive victory.

All of the Pirates’ players and coaches wore Pittsburgh Penguins’ replica jerseys as they got ready to embark on a road trip to Milwaukee and Detroit. The Penguins even sent a custom-made No. 13 sweater to manager Clint Hurdle.

The Penguins lead the Ottawa Senators 3-1 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.

“There’s nothing much like playoff hockey,” Hurdle said. “We’re just getting into the spirit.”

Utility infielder Brandon Inge took things one step farther before the game, arriving in the Pirates’ clubhouse dressed in a full hockey uniform and roller blades.

“It’s something fun, something to change things up a little bit during a long season. Plus, we’ve got to support our boys,” said Pirates second baseman Neil Walker, a Pittsburgh-area native.

The Pirates won for the 11th time in 13 games as Andrew McCutchen had three hits and two RBI.

Lead off hitter Starling Marte singled and scored in each of the first two innings as Pittsburgh built an early 4-0 lead. The Pirates moved a season-best 11 games over .500.

“We’re playing good baseball and I don’t think we’ve reached our ceiling yet,” McCutchen said. “The pitching has been good all year but the hitting has kind of been up and down. The bats are eventually going to come around and we should be even better when that happens.”

The Cubs lost their fourth in a row.

Edwin Jackson (1-7) gave up two runs in the first inning and two more in the second. He gave up 6 hits and struck out 6 in 3 innings and has a 6.11 ERA through 10 starts.

“I got beat with men on base with balls up in the zone,” Jackson said. “I had some times when I got it down but in vital situations when I needed to keep the ball down I wasn’t doing that, and that pretty much sums up the game.”

Jackson is in his first season with the Cubs after signing a four-year, $52 million contract over the winter as a free agent.

“I think at times he tries too hard to justify his contract and overthrows,” Chicago Manager Dale Sveum said. “I think he needs to relax and just be Edwin Jackson, the guy we liked enough to sign.”

Reliever Vin Mazzaro (3-0) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He replaced starter Jeanmar Gomez in the fourth inning following a rain delay of 1 hour, 47 minutes.

“I knew about a half-hour before the delay ended that I was going to come in to pitch, but you never know how the long the delay might last, so I tried to stay as prepared as possible,” Mazzaro said. “I felt like I was ready to go.”

Gomez allowed 1 run and 3 hits in 3 2/3 innings.

“I thought I had really good stuff today and control of all my pitches,” Gomez said. “Then it started raining hard and that was it. I think I could have pitched a lot longer. You can’t do anything about the rain.”

AMERICAN LEAGUE

BLUE JAYS 12, ORIOLES 6 Edwin Encarnacion hit his fifth career grand slam, J.P. Arencibia homered and drove in four runs, and host Toronto beat Baltimore, spoiling the debut of right-hander Kevin Gausman.

INDIANS 12, RED SOX 3 Drew Stubbs and Mark Reynolds drove in three runs each and Cleveland had 16 hits in a victory over host Boston.

TIGERS 7, TWINS 6 Prince Fielder bounced a tie breaking single off Jared Burton’s glove in the eighth inning, leading host Detroit to a come from-behind victory over Minnesota.

ANGELS 5, ROYALS 4 Mike Trout and Albert Pujols hit solo home runs, and Mark Trumbo hit a two-run shot to help Los Angeles beat host Kansas City.

Thursday’s games

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago Cubs 2

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Toronto 12, Baltimore 6 Detroit 7, Minnesota 6 Cleveland 12, Boston 3 LA Angels 5, Kansas City 4

Sports, Pages 22 on 05/24/2013

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