Pirates 3, Cubs 3 (7th, suspended)

[September 06, 2014]  Pirates 3, Cubs 3 (7th, suspended): Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison went 3-for-4 with an RBI double before lightning and heavy rain forced the contest to be suspended with one out in the top of the seventh inning in Chicago.

After a delay of 1 hour, 52 minutes - which followed a 37-minute delay in the top of the fifth - umpires called the game with more rain in the forecast. The teams will resume the opener at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon before their regularly scheduled matchup at 4:05.

The Pirates, who are mired in a four-game slide, are five games behind St. Louis in the National League Central and two back of Milwaukee for the second wild card. The Cubs, who have endured over 24 hours worth of rain delays this season, will attempt to extend their six-game home winning streak – matching the club’s longest such run since winning 14 in a row in 2008.

Pittsburgh pushed across an unearned run in the first when Harrison led off the game with a ground-rule double and scored on a throwing error by Chicago third baseman Luis Valbuena. Chicago jumped ahead in the third on a sacrifice fly by Jorge Soler and got an unearned run later in the frame on a throwing error from Harrison at third, but Pittsburgh countered with two in the fourth on RBI doubles from Jose Tabata and Harrison.

Play was halted for the first time for rain and heavy wind, but Pirates starter Vance Worley came back out after the delay to give up the tying run in the bottom half on Chris Valaika’s run-scoring single. A lightning flash near Wrigley Field during the middle of Jordy Mercer's at-bat in the seventh led to the second delay.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Chicago LHP Tsuyoshi Wada was pulled from his start after giving up three runs (two earned) over 3 1/3 innings with cramping in his left calf. Worley yielded three runs (two earned) on five hits over 4 2/3 innings. … Soler became the first player in the majors since Buddy Blair in 1942 with an extra-base hit or RBI in each of his first eight career games. … Harrison, the NL Player of the Month for August, has recorded multiple hits in six of his last eight games.

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