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'Sunday' lineup pays dividends for Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are the only team that regularly schedules Friday afternoon home games. Before Friday's matinee against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cubs manager Joe Maddon talked a little about the awkwardness of that arrangement.

Maddon went so far as to start a “Sunday lineup” against Pirates starting pitcher Francisco Liriano, and like everything else has for the Cubs this season, it worked.

The Cubs got 2 runs after the first 2 pitches they saw, as Dexter Fowler singled and Matt Szczur homered off Francisco Liriano on the way to a 6-0 victory.

Szczur was in the lineup because Kris Bryant was ill, and Maddon threw in a whole bunch of other youngsters for good measure.

“Lot of energy,” said Maddon, whose team improved to 45-20 while dropping the Pirates below .500 at 33-34. “The Sunday lineup was awesome today. Matty in that 2-hole jump-started the whole time. That was big. That put them on their heels a little bit because Liriano was good. He was really good.”

Did we mention awkward? Cubs ace Jake Arrieta improved to 11-1 and lowered his ERA from 1.86 to 1.74 with 6 shutout innings.

Arrieta struck out 11 and walked only three. But those three came back to back to back with one out in the sixth and the Cubs holding a still-precarious 2-0 lead.

So what did Arrieta do about it? He struck out the next two hitters, but only after going to a 3-0 count on David Freese and 3-1 on Matt Joyce.

“Yeah, nothing like a little self-inflicted drama to get the fans going,” Arrieta said. “I really just lost feel there. But those are things that can happen. I wish I had done a better job before walking three to make some really good pitches to get out of it. It was just a temporary lapse in staying aggressive and keeping things on the same track they were most of the game.”

The Cubs broke it open in the bottom of the inning with 3 runs, 1 coming on an RBI double by rookie Albert Almora, who had himself a nice day by going 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBI.

Almora's second RBI came on another awkward-looking — but calculated — play in the seventh.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Almora grounded the ball up the middle, where shortstop Jordy Mercer fielded it and threw to second baseman Josh Harrison attempting an inning-ending forceout. The throw was wide, and baserunner Anthony Rizzo was bearing down hard on Harrison and ended up bowling him over.

Harrison tagged Rizzo out past the base, but Fowler was able to score.

“It's a play (former Cubs coach) Dave McKay put in my head years ago,” Rizzo said. “Two outs, if you can beat that throw to second, why slide? Run through the base. If you're safe, the run scores. It's one of those where I was running through the bag the whole way, and then the throw just took him (Harrison) into me.

“So it was kind of messed up. But it got Albert the hit and RBI, scored an extra run. It's fortunate no one got hurt.”

Things went relatively normal from there, as Cubs relievers Trevor Cahill, Travis Wood and Justin Grimm combined with Arrieta to shut out the Pirates for the first time this year.

And about those “awkward” Friday afternoon games? Arrieta says he loves them.

“It's kind of a redundant theme,” he said. “The fans here are incredible all the time, especially day games. It's one of the most enjoyable aspects of this ballpark, is playing day games. I'm warming up right before 1 o'clock, and the bleachers are packed. I take a little jog to center field, and everybody's on their feet, showing their support.

“So right out of the gate, that fires you up, leading into the pregame and trying to get locked in. The chirping from the fans down in the pen, in a positive way, is just incredible. They really add a boost to your preparation for games.”

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