PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has coined a phrase for where star centre fielder Andrew McCutchen is at the moment. "(Hes) McHot," Hurdle said. For once, it might be an understatement. The reigning National League MVP had two doubles and two RBIs to lift the Pirates to a 4-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night. McCutchen is batting .428 (18 of 42) this month, with 15 of his hits going for extra bases. "Im seeing the ball and I get a pitch to hit and I hit it and its finding the gaps and thats basically whats happening right now for me," said McCutchen, a career .324 hitter in June. "Things are just working out right now and I want to continue to stay where Im at." Russell Martin also doubled twice for the Pirates and rookie Gregory Polanco got a hit in the third straight game since his call-up. Edinson Volquez (4-5) pitched seven effective innings to win for the third time in his last five starts. Volquez struck out five and walked two while outpitching Chicago ace Jeff Samardzija (2-6). It helped the Cubs could do little when given the chance. Chicago went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. "He was commanding the zone like he does when he is in a good place and we were on the other side of it," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said of Volquez. McCutchen broke it open with a two-run double in the fifth. The Pirates had seven doubles in all, their highest total since a win over Houston in July 2010. "The next team that comes in here is probably better off pitching around him and letting him go to first base," Samardzija said. Luis Valbuena had two doubles for the Cubs, who went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position to fall for the fourth time in five games. The Cubs have scored two runs or fewer in nine of Samardzijas 14 starts. Chicagos troubles werent just on offence on a night the worst road team in baseball fell to 0-9-3 in series played away from Wrigley Field this year. Samardzija struggled against a team that seems to be rounding into form behind its star centre fielder. McCutchen extended his hitting streak to eight straight by doubling with one out in the fourth before coming around to score when Martin smacked a ball off the wall in right field. Ike Davis scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Jordy Mercer to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. Pittsburgh made it 4-0 in the fifth when Polanco -- batting leadoff for the first time -- and Starling Marte hit consecutive singles followed by drive by McCutchen to the notch in left-centre. McCutchen slid into the third on the play before making a rare mental miscue when he stepped off the base, allowing him to get tagged out in the process. "I guess thats why they say stay humble in this game, because crazy stuff like that will happen," McCutchen said. "Popping up, getting all excited and next thing you know Im floating all over the bag and his glove is right there so thats why you stay humble." It hardly mattered. The Cubs were too busy wasting chances to get to Volquez, who has suddenly emerged as a constant on Pittsburghs injury muddled pitching staff. After a bumpy patch in early May, Volquez is 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA in his last five starts. NOTES: The Pirates called up INF Michael Martinez from Triple-A Indianapolis before the game and optioned RHP Casey Sandler back to Indianapolis. ... Chicago CF Emilio Bonifacio left in the first inning with a rib injury and did not return. ... Chicago signed free agent C Yorvit Torrealba to a minor league deal Thursday. Torrealba, who played for Colorado last season, will report to Chicagos training complex in Mesa, Arizona. ... The Pirates begin a three-game set in Miami on Friday night against the Marlins. Jeff Locke (0-1) starts for Pittsburgh against Nathan Eovaldi (4-2, 3.27). ... The Cubs continue a 10-game road trip on Friday in Philadelphia. Jake Arrieta (1-1, 2.50) starts for the Cubs against Roberto Hernandez (2-4, 4.35). Adoree Jackson Jersey . Not bad for a defenceman. The goal, that is. Although the shuffling dance steps werent bad, either. Barrie scored 55 seconds into overtime, Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots, and the Avalanche moved a step closer to their first playoff berth in four years with a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Wesley Woodyard Jersey . Bradley is one of eight players selected to the team who also played in this years World Cup in Brazil. The MLS all-stars will compete against German giants Bayern Munich in Portland on Aug. http://www.officialtennesseetitansfootball.com/authentic-quinton-spain-jersey-womens . Diego Costa headed in Gabis corner seven minutes from time to secure victory ahead of the return match in Madrid on March 11. "We know that at Madrid it will be another game, which will also be important and very difficult," Milan coach Clarence Seedorf said. Nate Palmer Jersey . Bryant underwent an operation in December to correct an irregular heartbeat. His season ended with four games left because of a rapid heartbeat, a condition he has known about for several years and had been treated for in the past. Bennie Logan Jersey . Still, Encarnacion felt a sense of relief. He felt a pop just before crumpling to the ground after running out a groundball in the first inning of Saturdays game. It could have been worse. “Its going to take maybe two weeks,” said Encarnacion. “It depends how Im going to be and how Im going to be day after day, feeling better or not.TORONTO - By the end of Thursdays three hour-and 32-minute, triple-overtime marathon, the longest game in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors had run out of gas while nearly running out of active bodies. Two of the Raptors starters, along with their sixth man, had fouled out after gutting out a couple of extra periods playing hurt. One starter was absent, having left for the locker room earlier in the game with an injury and another was mired in one of the worst games in his professional career. "I feel like if we would have had everybody in the game, we probably would have come up with the win," said Amir Johnson, who - playing on a couple of sore ankles - picked up his sixth foul late in the first overtime, as his team went on to fall 132-129 to the Washington Wizards at home. Patrick Patterson was whistled for his sixth minutes earlier, while Kyle Lowry - hobbling on an ankle he tweaked going in for a potential game-winning drive at the end of regulation - fouled out two minutes before the night came to a merciful end. Terrence Ross, who scored a team-high 11 points in the first half, did not return for the second after he, too, suffered an ankle injury. As a team, the Raptors, until very late in the fourth, were outworked in a game that seemed to mean more to the visiting Wizards, losers of three straight to Toronto this season, than it did to the home team. Overall, Washington grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, registered 80 points in the paint, bested the Raptors 21-6 in second-chance points and held a 10-point edge in fast break scoring. Still, the Raptors were right there with a chance to steal a victory they probably didnt deserve at the end of regulation and as the clock expired to close the first OT period. "I like the way we battled," said coach Dwane Casey, "even through the foul trouble and also with injuries." "Coach told us before the game its going to be a playoff-atmosphere game," said DeMar DeRozan, the lone starter on the floor when the Wizards finally began to pull away in the third OT. "Thats what it was. We fought to the end, we just couldnt get no stops in overtime." DeRozan led the Raptors with 34 points in 57 minutes. Lowry logged 54 minutes, 13 in extra time, despite coming down awkwardly on his ankle after just missing the go-ahead layup ahead of the fourth-quarter buzzer. Again, the ball was in the hands of the Raptors point guard in a similar situation five minutes later when the trailing John Wall blocked his runner in the lane. "He stayed in the game, but he turned his ankle real bad on that play," Casey said. "I thought Kyle still battled on defence and I thought he was huge for us." How was his ankle feeling after the game? "Its great," Lowry said with a smirk on his face, withholding - not surprisingly - any pain from the hoard of media. "A game like this, the bumps and bruises hurt a little bit more," said Johnson, who had 16 points annd nine rebounds in 42 minutes, "especially when you come up short and there were so many times we could have ended the game and won the game.ddddddddddddIt was a tough loss." “We wanted to win the game," Lowry added after just missing out on a triple-double with 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. "At the end of the day, we go out there and try to win every single night. We dont try to just go out there and compete and say, ‘Oh, we gave it our best shot. We go out there and try to win every single game." Three-point shooting kept Toronto in striking distance as the Raptors knocked down 12 of their 30 attempts from long range, including four from Greivis Vasquez, who stepped up in Rosss stead. Vasquez recorded a season-high 26 points to go along with eight assists in 38 minutes off the bench, his most productive game since coming over in the December trade from Sacramento. With the win, the fifth-place Wizards avoided the season-series sweep with Toronto and pulled within two games of the Raptors for the third seed in the East. Although it was a long night for everyone involved - Casey ended up using all 13 players available to him - it couldnt have ended soon enough for Jonas Valanciunas, who had a game to forget. Once Patterson and Johnson fouled out in OT, Casey reluctantly went back to Valanciunas, though he had been sitting on the bench since late in the third quarter. Understandably, the 21-year-old was out of rhythm and lacking in the confidence department. It showed. The sophomore had difficulty keeping up with Marcin Gortat - who scored a career-best 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, seven of them offensive - and negated one of his own teams buckets on an offensive goaltending call. Casey rotated in the likes of Tyler Hansbrough and Chuck Hayes, Steve Novak and Landry Fields - the three had not played more than a few seconds until OT - when it became apparent the Raptors starting centre was causing more harm than good. Although Casey wouldnt point the finger at the young seven-footer, given the length of time he spent on the bench before re-entering, "it wasnt fair to Jonas," he said, Valanciunas was far more critical of himself after the loss. "I feel really sad," he said with his head down. "Weve got to learn from [our] mistakes. I feel really bad right now. I could do a much better job than what I did. Im going to watch the film, learn from it to not repeat it next game." Luckily, the Raptors will have a couple of days off to rest, recuperate and regroup before hosting the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, their only game in the next seven days. "We just go over the mistakes we made on film [and] clean them up," Johnson said. "It just makes you realize how much talent we have on this team, what we can do." "[Were] going to go over film, rest our bodies [and] come back strong." 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