Morning Marquee: Chicago Cubs handed first tie since 1993

The Chicago Cubs entered Thursday evening with an opportunity to end the year with a 15-4 record against the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, the weather in the Steel City had other plans. What we witnessed last night was something that doesn’t happen often.

And what happened is that both teams were issued a tie. Why a tie, you ask? Well, it’s simple, really. The regular season is coming to an end on Sunday. Yesterday evening marked the final meeting between the two clubs so there is no makeup date available.

With the Chicago Cubs already clinching the division and home-field advantage throughout the N.L. playoffs, there’s nothing to be done. You can’t just continue this game or schedule a doubleheader for next season either.

Nonetheless, the Cubs and Pirates will maintain their records. Now, a brief recap of the short-lived game four between Chicago and Pittsburgh.

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Young southpaw Rob Rob Zastryzny (1-0, 1.13 ERA) took the mound for the North Siders in his first big league start, giving original arms a break. As mentioned before, the postseason is right around the corner so Joe is going to want to rest his arms.

Especially those who will take the mound in the division and championship series. Despite exiting after 3 2/3 frames, the 24-year-old pitched well. He held the Pirates (78-80) to one unearned run on two hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.

Chicago (101-57) gave him an early 1-0 lead in the second inning of the contest. Catcher Tim Federowicz drove in Willson Contreras via a sacrifice fly out to center fielder Andrew McCutchen.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Yet while Joe Maddon‘s rookie was pitching well, his offense, on the other hand, was unable to jump ahead. That’s due to former Yankee, Ivan Nova. Not a bad performance in his first time facing the Cubs, I might add.

Nova took advantage of this Cubs lineup by striking out five men while giving up four hits in the process. The only difference between himself and Zastryzny is he was charged with the lone Cubs run from the second.

Next: Lester has dominated the second half

There was no Dexter Fowler, Jason Heyward, Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, or Chris Coghlan. Which meant that recent call-ups and bench players were in the starting lineup. Today, the Cubs begin their final regular season series against the Cincinnati Reds.

In addition, last night’s tie was Chicago’s first since the 1993 season while hosting the Montreal Expos.