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PITTSBURGH -- All eyes were supposed to be on Gregory Polanco. But thanks to his new-found success against left-handed pitchers, Anthony Rizzo stole the show. Rizzo homered, doubled twice and drove in three runs to lead the Chicago Cubs over the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 Tuesday night, spoiling Polancos much-anticipated debut. Rizzo hit a two-run homer in the first inning off lefty Francisco Liriano, who came out in the fourth with discomfort on his right side. Rizzo also doubled and scored in the fourth and hit an RBI double in the seventh, a drive to deep right-centre that struck Polancos left wrist as the touted Pirates rookie tried to make the catch. Rizzo has five home runs and a .344 batting average in 61 at-bats against left-handers this season. Last year, he batted .189 with seven homers against southpaws in 189 at-bats. "I feel more comfortable against them now and its the best Ive ever hit left-handers at any level," Rizzo said. "I dont know if Ill ever figure lefties out -- or right-handers, either -- but I do feel confident against them." Rizzo has every reason to feel confident. He has five homers in his last 10 games, raising his season total to 13. "You can talk about mechanics and scouting reports and everything else, but the biggest thing in this game is confidence," Rizzo said. "If you step into the batters box with confidence, then youre giving yourself a much better chance to hit." Polanco went 1 for 5 after getting called up from Triple-A Indianapolis, where the right fielder was leading the International League with a .347 batting average and 49 RBIs in 62 games. "It was a lot of fun," he said. "It was exciting. I was a little nervous at first but then I relaxed and had fun." Pinch-hitter Luis Valbuenas two-run double off Casey Sadler (0-1) broke a 3-all tie in the sixth and put Chicago ahead for good. Travis Wood (6-5) allowed three runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings. "It was a grind at times but I got through it," Wood said. Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run homer for the Pirates, his ninth of the season and fifth in nine June games. Valbuena and Junior Lake each had two hits for the Cubs, as did Pittsburghs Russell Martin and Starling Marte. Rizzo scored on a single by Starlin Castro in the seventh to push Chicagos lead to 7-3. Rizzos homer put the Cubs up 2-0, but the Pirates tied it on McCutchens drive in the third. In the top of the fourth, Rizzo led off with a double and scored on Darwin Barneys double. Pittsburgh tied it again in the bottom half on pinch-hitter Jose Tabatas RBI double. "Rizzos blast there in the first inning kind of got us rolling and we did a good job of adding on runs after that," Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. Liriano allowed two runs in three-plus innings. He bent over and held his back after throwing a pitch to Rizzo, then left the mound after a few warmup pitches. After leading the Pirates with 16 wins last season, Liriano has struggled this year. He is 1-6 with a 4.60 ERA in 14 starts. Liriano will almost certainly miss his scheduled start Sunday in Miami and could land on the disabled list. Pirates right-hander Gerrit Cole (right shoulder fatigue) went on the DL on Sunday and second baseman Neil Walker (appendectomy) followed him Tuesday. NOTES: The Cubs released RHP Jose Veras, one week after designating him for assignment. He was 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in 12 relief appearances while going 0 for 2 on save chances. ... Pittsburgh 3B Pedro Alvarez got the night off. He is 1 for 18 against Wood. ... Chicago RHP Jason Hammel (6-3, 2.53 ERA) is scheduled to start Wednesday night against RHP Brandon Cumpton (1-2, 6.51). Solomon Hill Jersey . - The fiancee of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez is set to ask a judge to throw out allegations that she lied to a grand jury. Nikola Mirotic Jersey . A steady downpour and low temperatures were predicted for much of the night. No makeup date was immediately announced, although it was determined that the game will not be part of a doubleheader on Wednesday. http://www.cheappelicansjerseys.com/. Edwin Encarnacion carried the torch for two days at Fenway Park this week; Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista have had their moments; lately Anthony Gose has contributed. ETwaun Moore Jersey . Both the top-seeded Djokovic and sixth-seeded Fish took relatively easy paths, with the Serb winning when opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired in the second set with a sore arm and Fish dominating Janko Tipsarevic in two quick sets. Cheap Pelicans Jerseys . With timely hitting and good pitching, the Marlins are one win away from sweeping the slumping Houston Astros.SAN ANTONIO -- North Carolina had 1.6 seconds to score and avoid another early NCAA tournament exit, but instead spent that precious time trying to call timeout. A fittingly frustrating end to a frustrating Tar Heels season. With coach Roy Williams jumping and gesticulating for a timeout, the No. 6 seed Tar Heels inbounded the ball to Nate Britt who dribbled past midcourt as time expired, ousting them in the third round for a second consecutive season in a 85-83 loss to Iowa State on Sunday. Officials huddled for several minutes reviewing the clock on replays before confirming that the game was over. Williams -- who collapsed his hands on his knees as Britt surged toward him -- then shook Iowa State coach Fred Hoibergs hand as North Carolina began absorbing the heartbreaker. "We made some mistakes. We practice all the time that situation for five guys to be calling timeout, and Im supposed to be calling timeout, and I was calling timeout," Williams said. "Referees didnt recognize it. We practice those scenarios, so we made mistakes. " Iowa States DeAndre Kane did exactly as his coach had instructed, driving for a layup with 1.6 seconds left that gave the Cyclones the lead. His twisting shot put Iowa State in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. "Hes been our Mariano Rivera. Hes been our closer all throughout this season," Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. Now the No. 3 seed Cyclones (28-7) are headed to the home of the former Yankees star, New York City, where they will play No. 7 seed Connecticut in the East Regional semifinals next week. The No. 6 seed Tar Heels (24-10) are gone in the NCAA tournaments opening weekend for the first time in consecutive seasons under Williams, who choked back tears following the end of his 10th season in Chapel Hill. "Lets not anybody lay it on the officials or anything like that. We didnt call the timeout with 1.6 seconds to play," Williams said. Britt said he thought North Carolina got the timeout before the buzzer. "When I looked up at the clock I saw one-point-something time left," he said. "I saw staff screaming and trying to call timeout." Kane finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. It was just the kind of big game the Cyclones needed without forward Georges Niang, who broke his foot in Fridays win against North Carolina Central.dddddddddddd The 6-foot-7 sophomore sat on the bench wearing a bulky boot while the Cyclones tried their best without their third-leading scorer and tallest starter. Kane said the last possession called for him to attack the basket, unless North Carolina defenders swarmed him as he penetrated. "But nobody helped, and I made an acrobatic shot and it went in," Kane said. Marcus Paige led North Carolina with 19 points and Kennedy Meeks had 15 points and 13 rebounds. But North Carolina played nearly the entire game without forward Brice Johnson, who sprained ankle in the opening minutes. The team said X-rays were negative, but the Tar Heels third-leading scorer never returned. The Tar Heels crave a fast pace, and -- after dealing with the grind-it-out style of recent opponents -- Williams and Paige had spoken of relishing the chance to finally hit the gas against the similarly up-tempo Cyclones. But this was no track meet. Undersized Iowa State bottled up the Tar Heels before they could run and bombarded them with 3-pointers (12 of 26) instead of quick baskets. The first dunk came from Kane, not the high-flying Tar Heels, and not until 12 minutes into the game after a handful of bungled North Carolina fast breaks. Niangs injury left Hoiberg with a tough choice: go small with his best remaining five or a put a little-used big man in place of his star sophomore. He opted for size over another shooter, giving 6-foot-8 forward Daniel Edozie his first career start. Edozie missed the only two shots he tried and grabbed four rebounds. But Johnsons bum ankle reduced North Carolinas size advantage. Johnson, who came in averaging 10.6 points and is the Tar Heels second-leading rebounder, tumbled to the floor with North Carolina up 12-7. He sat on the bench before hobbling to the locker room. Coincidental or not, the Cyclones got hot the moment Johnson left the game. They shook off a 1-for-10 start from the floor and erased a seven-point deficit in less than 1 1/2 minutes. After that, neither team led by more than single digits. "Once Georges got injured people didnt think that we had enough to pull out this win," forward Dustin Hogue said. "This goes to show that we have depth and we have heart. With enough heart you can beat anybody." ' ' '