PITTSBURGH (Interstat) — Shota Imanaga pitched six shutout innings, Pete Crow-Armstrong drove in three runs and the Chicago Cubs routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0 on Saturday afternoon at PNC Park.

The Cubs, who improved to 59-45, erupted for three runs in the fifth inning, five in the sixth and two in the seventh to complete a lopsided victory before a crowd of 39,105. The game lasted 2 hours, 48 minutes.

Crow-Armstrong went 4 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs, leading an offense that collected 16 hits. He doubled and scored in the fifth, doubled and scored again in the sixth and homered in the seventh.

Imanaga allowed four hits and struck out four over six innings, earning his eighth win against eight losses. Javier Assad recorded his first save of the season with three scoreless innings of relief, allowing one hit and striking out three.

Paul Skenes took the loss for the Pirates, falling to 9-9. He allowed five earned runs on six hits and struck out 11 in 5⅓ innings.

The Cubs broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning. Dansby Swanson singled, and Miguel Amaya singled to put runners at first and second. Crow-Armstrong doubled to center field, scoring Swanson and sending Amaya to third. Seiya Suzuki followed with a single to right field, driving in both Amaya and Crow-Armstrong for a 3-0 lead.

The Cubs blew the game open in the sixth. Nico Hoerner singled with one out, and Pedro Ramírez walked. Swanson doubled to left, scoring Hoerner and sending Ramírez to third. Amaya singled to left, scoring both Ramírez and Swanson to make it 6-0. Crow-Armstrong then doubled to right, moving Amaya to third. After Suzuki struck out, Michael Busch singled to right, scoring Amaya and Crow-Armstrong for an 8-0 lead. Alex Bregman walked and Ian Happ walked to load the bases, but Hoerner lined out to left to end the inning.

The Cubs added two more in the seventh. Ramírez singled to right, then stole second. Crow-Armstrong launched his 23rd home run of the season to right field, scoring Ramírez and extending the lead to 10-0.

Chicago capped the scoring in the eighth. James Triantos singled, advanced to third on a double by Ramírez, and scored on the play.

The Pirates managed only five hits: singles by Jake Mangum, Ryan O’Hearn, Henry Davis, Nick Gonzales and Esmerlyn Valdez. Skenes kept the Pirates close through four innings, striking out seven in that span, but the Cubs’ five-run sixth chased him from the game.

The Cubs’ offense was spread throughout the lineup. Michael Busch went 3 for 6 with two RBIs. Amaya finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Swanson was 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Ramírez went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI.

For the Pirates, the loss dropped them to 53-52. Relievers Tyler Callihan and Brandon Eisert each pitched an inning, with Callihan allowing one hit and Eisert giving up two hits and one earned run.

The game was the second of a three-game series. Chicago had won the opener 3-2 in 10 innings on Friday. The Cubs have won five of their last seven games, while the Pirates have lost two in a row after winning four of their previous five.

The Cubs will conclude the series Sunday before embarking on a four-game road set against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates will host the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game series beginning Monday.

Crow-Armstrong continued a hot stretch at the plate. In his previous four games, he had gone 2 for 4 with a home run and an RBI against the Pirates, 0 for 3 against Detroit, 2 for 2 with two RBIs in another game against Detroit, and 0 for 4 in a loss to the Tigers.

The Cubs’ recent results showed a mix of wins and losses. They had beaten the Pirates on Friday, lost to Detroit twice, then beaten Detroit and Minnesota in two of three, and had a stretch of wins over Cincinnati, Baltimore, St. Louis, San Diego and Milwaukee.

The Pirates came into the game having lost to the Cubs in 10 innings Friday, then splitting a series at the New York Yankees, winning at Cleveland, and taking three of four from Milwaukee, Atlanta and Washington before a road trip to Philadelphia and a homestand against Cincinnati and Seattle.

The interleague matchup featured two teams battling for playoff positioning. The Cubs’ 59-45 record placed them in contention for a postseason berth, while the Pirates at 53-52 remained in the hunt for a wild-card spot.

The most important sequence of the game occurred in the fifth and sixth innings when the Cubs broke a scoreless tie with three runs, then added five more to take a commanding lead. Crow-Armstrong’s double in the fifth opened the scoring, and his double in the sixth set up another rally. His home run in the seventh put the game out of reach.

Imanaga’s efficient outing kept the Pirates off the board, and Assad’s three-inning save preserved the shutout. The Cubs’ 16 hits marked a season high against the Pirates, who had allowed only five runs combined in their previous two games.

The projected final score from the Interstat game simulator was Chicago Cubs 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 5. The Interstat ELO system gave the Cubs a 52.60 percent probability to win. Pittsburgh had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 11 went under the over-under line of 7.5.