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| Bay's single lifts Pirates over Cubs PITTSBURGH 6, CHICAGO CUBS 5 (11 INNINGS) |
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By Dave Assad PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - It took a couple of extra innings, but the Pittsburgh Pirates finally managed to take a series from the Chicago Cubs. Jason Bay plated the game-winning run in the 11th inning to lead the Pirates to a 6-5 win over the Cubs on Sunday. Light-hitting Luis Rivas, who entered the contest with two homers in the past three seasons, hit a pair of solo blasts for Pittsburgh, which took two of three from Chicago over the weekend. The Pirates have three wins in 12 meetings between the teams this season. Chris Gomez led off the 11th with an infield hit off Jon Lieber (2-3) and was sacrificed to second by Brian Bixler. After Rivas struck out and Nate McLouth was intentionally walked, Bay lined a single down the left field line for his second extra-inning, game-winning hit in as many days. Bay singled over a drawn-in outfield in the 14th inning Saturday gave the Pirates a 5-4 win. "Getting walk-offs back-to-back is pretty neat," Bay said. Chicago was in position to win in the ninth but left fielder Alfonso Soriano lost a fly ball in the sun with two outs, giving McLouth a double and allowing Bixler to come around with the tying run. The play initially was ruled an error until a scoring change was made. "I waited until the last moment to try and catch the ball, but it was in the sun. It was very tough," Soriano said. "When it came off the bat, I saw it very clear, but at the last moment it was in the sun. It's very tough to try and catch the ball when you can't see." Rivas' solo shot in the first inning and Xavier Nady's eighth homer of the season in the second staked the Prates to a 2-0 lead. Chicago starter Ted Lilly allowed four runs and 10 hits while walking two over six innings. Pirates lefthander Paul Maholm worked eight innings and threw 121 pitches, giving a break to a tired bullpen that logged 8 1/3 innings in Saturday's contest. Maholm retired 13 of 15 batters from the third through the seventh innings, but gave up a run in the eighth on a double by Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez's RBI single, allowing Chicago to take a 5-4 lead. Relievers Franquelis Osoria and Damaso Marte (4-0) combined to toss the final three innings. "Maholm going that deep really saved us. I thought he threw great. He had the one bad inning which got away from him, but I thought he made good pitches all day and got stronger as the game went on," Pirates manager John Russell said. "We got our two freshest arms out of the bullpen and it paid off in the end. Osoria threw the ball well and kept it down and Marte has been pretty much lights-out his last few outings. "We finally caught a break against these guys. We were fortunate to get the sun ball, but we took advantage of the break and came up with the big hit late with Jason Bay. You never know in this game. You play until the last out. ... (Bay) is that type of hitter who can carry your club and can get your club started. There's a lot of good things he can do with the bat." Carlos Marmol pitched the ninth with a one-run lead instead of Cubs usual closer Kerry Wood, who had a blown save the previous night. Marmol fared no better than Wood in the save situation, thanks to McLouth's double. "We normally take (batting practice) starting at 4:30 and it's bad from about 4:30 until about 6," Bay said about the sun. "I said I was hoping we don't go extra innings because that's about the only time the sun is going to be a factor." Bay thought McLouth's fly ball would be no routine catch. "When it was hit, and from being out there, I knew it wasn't going to be an easy play," he said. |
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