Shady slide by Rizzo overshadows his hits

Cubs slugger stirs Pirates’ ire in victory

PITTSBURGH — Anthony Rizzo’s seventh home run of the season gave the sleep-deprived Chicago Cubs an early lead Monday. His two-run single in the ninth put the finishing touches on a 7-0 romp over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It’s what happened in between that could have a carry-over effect for the National League Central rivals.

Rizzo slid hard into Pirates catcher Elias Diaz while being forced out at home in the eighth inning, taking out Diaz’s legs, forcing a wild throw into right field.

That allowed two runs to score and left both sides wondering what does — and doesn’t — constitute a legal slide.

Rizzo claimed he “wasn’t trying to hurt anyone” when he went leg-first into Diaz, who already had touched home plate for the force out and was a step in front of the base when the 6-foot-3-inch, 240-pound Rizzo undercut him.

“You have to play hard,” Rizzo said. “It’s 100 percent in the rules.”

Cubs manager Joe Maddon agreed, calling it a “perfect play” while chastising officials for not doing a proper job educating fans on the rules.

The Pirates challenged the call, but it stood on review, a sequence that ended with Pirates manager Clint Hurdle getting ejected.

“Our catcher, he makes the play just like he’s supposed to make, and he gets wiped out with a hard baseball slide,” Hurdle said. “There’s potential injury, and I don’t see the rule fitting the means there. If it’s open season, it’s open season.”

Diaz remained in the game after being tended to by trainers and said Rizzo apologized before his at-bat in the ninth.

“When I saw the replay, I was like ‘Man, this guy could have ended my career right here,’ ” Diaz said. “I understand they called it a legal slide, but out of what I’ve been trained and what I’ve been told, that was not a legal slide.”