PITTSBURGH (AP) — One of the few bright spots in an otherwise lost season, Alfonso Soriano helped punctuate a bounce-back weekend from one of the Chicago Cubs' lowest points.
Soriano hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Cubs the go-ahead runs and Chicago completed a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 4-2 win on Sunday.
The Cubs arrived in Pittsburgh on a six-game losing streak and having been outscored 31-10 in getting swept by the Nationals.
"You have to give these guys a lot of credit after what happened in Washington to come in here and do what they did against a really good team," Chicago manager Dale Sveum said.
Soriano followed Anthony Rizzo's leadoff single in the eighth with his second homer in as many days and 28th of the season, sending the first pitch from Jason Grilli (1-6) into the Cubs' bullpen in left-center.
Josh Vitters and Anthony Recker each hit solo home runs for the Cubs in the fourth. Recker's homer was the first of his career.
"Hopefully more to come, too," Recker said. "We'll see. I was just glad to get the win. Obviously, to contribute offensively was good, too."
Chicago is 6-20 on the road since the All-Star break, with five of those wins coming at PNC Park. The Cubs had lost eight consecutive road games before this series.
Andrew McCutchen homered and Brock Holt had three hits for the Pirates, who have lost seven of nine and continue their freefall out of contention.
Pittsburgh (72-67) peaked at 16 games over .500 this season but now needs to go 9-14 just to avoid extending their North American major professional sports record of consecutive losing seasons to 20.
"We need to play better — that's it," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "I'm not going to get up here and point fingers or this and that or say this ... I'm telling you how I feel — we've got to play batter. And that's it. And they know that."
Pittsburgh loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but Cubs closer Carlos Marmol struck out Gaby Sanchez and got Pedro Alvarez to fly out to left to earn his 18th save.
Joe Mather went 3 for 5 for the Cubs (54-86), who have the majors' second-worst record.
Chicago's road sweep was its first since Aug. 1-4, 2010, in Pittsburgh. The Pirates were swept in three games at home for the first time this season.
Soriano had six RBIs in the series. His 94 on the season are the most since he put up 95 during his only season with the Washington Nationals in 2006.
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