Cubs blank Pirates 4-0; set to clinch playoff slot

Jameson Taillon allowed two hits in six innings, and Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong homered as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 on Monday night and got closer to clinching a postseason berth.

Chicago (86-64) opened a four-game lead over San Diego for the top NL wild card and trails NL Central-leading Milwaukee by five games with 12 games remaining.

The Cubs won for the fifth time in six games and sent the Pirates to their ninth loss in 10 games.

With the win and a loss by the San Franscisco Giants, the Cubs' magic number to reach the playoffs is 2. They could clinch as early as Tuesday.

The Cubs are trying to get to the playoffs for the first time since 2020, when they won the NL Central title during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. That ended a run of five playoff berths in six seasons, which included the 2016 World Series title, the franchise’s first championship in more than a century.

Taillon (10-6) struck out out three and walked two, retiring 15 of 16 batters during a stretch from the first until the sixth. He is 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA since returning Aug. 18 from a strained left groin.

Michael Soroka, Porter Hodge, and Brad Keller finished a three=hitter, the Cubs’ 14th shutout, with Keller getting one out for his second save this season.

Busch homered in the second, his 28th this season, and Nico Hoerner scored on a wild pitch later in the inning by Braxton Ashcraft (4-3), who gave up three runs and six hits in four innings.

Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson hit consecutive doubles in the fourth, and Crow-Armstrong connected for his 29th homer in the sixth.

Cubs rookie RHP Cade Horton (10-4, 2.70 ERA) faces RHP Paul Skenes (10-9, 1.92), the major league ERA leader, on Tuesday night.




(AP Photo Gene J. Puskar)