CHICAGO — Trevor Williams faced an important task in the bottom of the sixth. Facing him for the third time was the heart of the Chicago Cubs lineup — Chris Bryant, Ben Zobrist and Kyle Schwarber. If he held the one-run lead, manager Clint Hurdle could bypass the fraught-with-peril middle relievers and go directly to his back-end trio.
Turns out he didn’t need them.
Williams preserved the lead, Gregory Polanco and Francisco Cervelli extended it in the following inning and the Pirates beat the Cubs, 6-1, at Wrigley Field to take two out of three games in the series.