http://dkpittsburghsports.com/ It was always a flawed argument that the Pirates had no recourse against Madison Bumgarner in last year’s National League Wild Card. Maybe, just maybe, if Edinson Volquez had kept it close, that game plays out in a different way. It’s a lot to ask a pitcher to throw six or seven scoreless, but that was what it took to have a chance. This year, Gerrit Cole didn’t have what it took, either. That fact lingered longest after a venue-record 40,889 had filed out of PNC Park on Wednesday night, mourning a 4-0 loss to the Cubs. The Pirates lined up their 25-year-old Brahma bull for just this scenario weeks in advance, but Cole was off right from the start, eventually departing after five erratic innings and the Pirates down four to Cy Young Award favorite Jake Arrieta. “It burns,” Cole said after the third-shortest start of an otherwise outstanding year. “It stings. It sucks. All the negative things you could come up with. Runs are at a premium in a game like this, so you know you have to keep them at bay. I did my best. I just wasn’t good enough.”