Cardiac Cubs Explode In Late Innings
Cubs Beat Pirates 14-9
PITTSBURGH -- Lou Piniella had a cold beer sitting on his desk after the Cubs' 14-9 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park on Tuesday night.
Heck, the soon-to-be 65-year-old manager needed one after his team lost a two-run lead, committed three errors and had to continually shoo away the Piratesin what turned into a four-hour marathon.
In the end, it took a seven-run eighth inning to bring the National League Central-leading Cubs their 82nd victory of the season.
"We've had some long games [here]," Piniella said, referring to the two extra-inning games both teams played in Pittsburgh four monthsago.
"This one here was a long one, but our guys battled and they kept coming back. It really wasn't one of our better games. But look it this way, itwas a win."
The come-from-behind victory overshadowed what was an obviously frustrating night for the Cubs. Chicago overcame a rough outing by ace Carlos Zambrano, whowas hit hard for six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and a crucial error by left fielder Alfonso Soriano in the sixth to improve to 6-2 at PNC Park.
Geovany Soto carried the Cub's offense on his back with a career-high seven-RBI night. The catcher smacked a home run, two three-run doubles and scoredthree runs. He became only the seventh player in the Majors this season to collect seven RBIs in a game, and the first Chicago player to do so since AramisRamirez did so on Sept. 18, 2006.
"What a big night Soto had," Piniella said.
"It felt really good," Soto said. "I just tried stay on the ball and tried not to do too much, and have good at-bats for my team."
The Cubs got to the Pirates bullpen early in the eighth, down, 8-7. After two leadoff singles, Bucs reliever Craig Hansen went a bit wild. He walked RyanTheriot to load the bases and handed out free passes to Derrek Lee and Ramirez to give the Cubs a 9-7 edge.
Reed Johnson followed with an RBI single, Soto had his second three-run double and Mike Fontenot, who led off of the inning, drove in Chicago's 14th runwith a line-drive double to right.
"It seemed like every inning was a battle," Soto said. "We grinded it out."
Things weren't that peachy for the Cubs early on.
Zambrano surrendered three first-inning runs. His location "wasn't good," Piniella said, and he was leaving the ball up in the zone.
Soto said Zambrano didn't have his 'A' game on Tuesday, and it showed when the right-hander gave up a run in the fourth and two more in thefifth.
"This wasn't one of his better days," Piniella said. "I'm not concerned, but you want to see him throw it good. I didn't know ifit was concentration or not, but he'll be better next time out."
The outing reconfirmed Zambrano's struggles in the month of August. Last year, the Cubs' ace owned a 7.06 ERA in that month. The same is true thisseason, with Zambrano carrying a 7.43 ERA in five August starts. However, he came back and posted a 3.44 ERA in September and October last year.
"I think I have to eliminate August," Zambrano said. "Once I pass August, everything will be back to normal. I was thinking about that todayand last August wasn't that good but I was able to come back the next month and September and October were good. There's nothing to worryabout."
The Cubs took the lead with a four-run fourth. Soto came up with the bases loaded and cleared them with a double. Zambrano then drove Soto in with a singleto record his eighth straight game with at least one RBI. Zambrano has also gone 13 starts with at least one hit.
The Cubs added two more runs in the fifth and sixth on Mark DeRosa's double and Soto's 20th home run of the season, which broke the club'srookie record by a catcher. However, the Pirates added four over those frames to take an 8-7 lead.
Two runs scored in the sixth after Soriano took his eyes of Adam LaRoche's fly ball to left field. Third baseman Doug Mientkiewicz tripled in two runsto make the Cubs' left fielder lick his wounds.
The play was eerily similar to Soriano's dropped ball in the Cubs' 6-5 loss to the Pirates on May 25. Soriano lost the play in the sun and the balldeflected off his glove to help propel the Pirates to victory.
"I don't know what happened," Soriano on Tuesday. "I have to concentrate more to not have that happen again."
The Cubs have now won nine series in a row of two or more games for the first time since 1907 when they won 10 in a row.
"It wasn't one of our better games," Piniella said. "You'd rather win like that than play a great game and lose it."
