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Paulino, Chacon shine as Pirates gain split with Marlins

May 18, 2007 - 4:43 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Ronny Paulino appears to be fine-tuning his game. The Florida Marlins seem to be missing a few cylinders.

Paulino drove in a season-high three runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of a franchise high-tying five errors by the Marlins en route to a 7-2 triumph over Florida on Thursday to earn a split of their four-game series.

Shawn Chacon came out of the bullpen and pitched five brilliant innings for the Pirates, who took advantage of two costly miscues early by All-Star third baseman Miguel Cabrera.

"We just kicked it around and you can't do that," Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "You keep putting people on base and something bad's going to happen."

Paulino tied the game at 1-1 with a second-inning sacrifice fly against Florida starter Ricky Nolasco and gave the Pirates the lead for good with a two-run single during a four-run fourth.

After batting .182 (10-for-55) with four RBI in his first 16 games, the second-year catcher has hit .277 (18-for-65) with four homers and 16 RBI in his last 32 games.

"I have been working more every day and starting to get my swing back, get consistency and go the whole year through," Paulino said.

His first-inning RBI was set up by an error by Cabrera and a double by Ryan Doumit. Cabrera's second miscue after a leadoff walk in the fourth to Adam LaRoche proceeded a walk to Doumit which load the bases.

After Paulino's base hit to right gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 edge, Jose Castillo delivered a sacrifice fly, Chacon singled and Chris Duffy lofted a sacrifice fly for a 5-2 bulge.

Nolasco (1-2) paid the price for Cabrera's multiple gaffes. The righthander yielded five runs - two earned - and four hits with three walks in five frames. Shortstop Hanley Ramirez also committed two errors and catcher Miguel Olivo one.

"It's my job to try and pick up my teammates (after errors) and I wasn't able to do that and come up with a couple of outs here or there," Nolasco said. "It just wasn't our night tonight."

The Pirates gave themselves more breathing room in the seventh on a double by Freddy Sanchez and a sacrifice fly by Jason Bay off Wes Obermueller to take a 7-2 edge. The sacrifice fly was the Pirates' fourth of the game, tying a team record.

"Situational at-bats, you have to do that," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said when asked about the high number of sacrifice flies. "That's something that early in the season we missed on some of those opportunities. You've got to capitalize on those situations, you have to do that."

Florida struck first against Pittsburgh starter Tony Armas Jr., who is winless since September 24. After loading the bases on a walk, single and hit batter with two outs in the first, Armas walked Jeremy Hermida to put Florida on the board. But the righthander retired Olivo on a foulout to escape the 40-pitch frame without further damage.

After a 1-2-3 second, Armas yielded a one-out, run-scoring double to Cabrera that gave Florida a 2-1 edge in the third. But he retired Josh Willingham and Hermida to end the inning.

"Obviously he wasn't that effective but he still kept us in the ballgame and all of a sudden we got a few runs and were ahead," Bay said of Armas. "I'm sure Tony would like to have it back, but he kept us in the game, and (Chacon) went out there and gave us a great (five) innings, and we had enough to win."

Chacon (1-0) took over in the fourth and completely shut down Florida. The righthander yielded just two hits and a walk in five scoreless frames. He allowed just two runners to reach second base and was helped by two double-play grounders.

"He located extremely well tonight," Tracy said. "His pitches had life. He had great life down in the zone.

"You come in the game and you want to keep it right there, keep it close," Chacon said. "Regardless of what happens, you try to keep the game within reach for the offense."

John Grabow closed out the six-hitter with a scoreless ninth.

Ramirez had two hits and a run for Florida, capping a series in which he went 8-for-16 with a homer and four steals.

"He's a bright spot every night," Gonzalez said. "He's been playing good. He is a player that I don't think we've seen what he can do. If he stays healthy, he's going to have a very good career ahead of him. He's a very good player."