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Nady powers Pirates over Cubs

Jul 7, 2007 - 3:59 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Xavier Nady reached base four times and Paul Maholm tossed seven-plus innings to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to their fourth consecutive win, 8-4 over the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.

Nady, who finished a triple short of the cycle, drove in two runs and scored three as the Pirates won for the eighth time in 11 games.

The hot hitting was nothing new for Nady, who over the past 13 games is hitting .377 with three homers, five doubles, seven RBI and 11 runs.

"I'm not really worried about how I'm doing," Nady said. "To win and to play in October is everyone's goal in here. At the end of the year, everyone's going to have their own individual stats. "It's encouraging to see the way we've been playing and the way guys have been swinging the bats and hopefully we'll continue to improve."

Maholm (5-11) surrendered four runs on five hits with five strikeouts. It was the fifth consecutive start that he has lasted at least seven innings. Not coincidentally, three of his five wins have come in those five starts.

"The consistency between starts has been good (lately) and I think that's the main key," Maholm said. "I've been aggressive, getting ahead of hitters and letting them beat it into the ground. And hopefully I can continue that and pick it up in the second half and help the team get on a roll."

Maholm also did it with the bat, knocking a two-out two-run single to center field in the second inning to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

Nady and Ryan Doumit led off the inning with back-to-back singles off Chicago starter Jason Marquis (6-5). Jack Wilson drew a two-out walk to load the bases for Maholm, who delivered with his fifth hit of the season, doubling his RBI total on the campaign to four.

"You swing and hope you get lucky," Maholm said. "You don't want to be an automatic out but you're not expected to get a whole lot of hits. But you see a fastball and you swing and hopefully you put it in the right spot."

Maholm, however, had a direct hand in the Cubs tying the score in the next half-inning. The Cubs' No. 8 hitter, Rob Bowen, led off with a double, snapping an 0-for-22 slump, and Marquis attempted to sacrifice Bowen to third.

After fielding the bunt, Maholm attempted to make an out at third but the throw was too late, putting runners at the corners.

Alfonso Soriano followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Bowen and advancing Marquis to second base. Marquis advanced to third on Mike Fontenot's groundout and scored when Maholm uncorked a wild pitch to Derrek Lee to make it 2-2.

"I kind of felt like I gave them two runs back when I needed to go out there and put up a zero," Maholm said.

The Pirates took the lead for good in the next inning when National League All-Star Freddy Sanchez homered into the first row of seats in left field - his second blast of the year.

One batter later, Nady blasted his team-leading 14th home run to the deepest part of PNC Park in left-center field to again give the Pirates a two-run cushion.

"Over the last few days, balls are being driven, we're hitting home runs, we're taking great at-bats and we're giving ourselves a very good chance to hit a ball hard because of the approach that we're taking at the plate," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "It all adds up and as a result of that, one hand feeds the other."

Nady was at the heart of another rally in the fifth when he drew a one-out walk and scored on Doumit's double. Doumit scored on Jose Bautista's double to make it 6-2.

That hit chased Marquis, who went 4 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits. It was just the second time in 18 starts this season that Marquis failed to go at least five innings.

"I just wasn't making pitches when I needed to," Marquis said. "I felt like I was getting ahead of hitters pretty decent tonight and I was just giving them too many good pitches to hit in the middle of the plate. I didn't make the adjustment like I wanted to and put my team in a hole and obviously it didn't turn out for the good."

"He was up with the ball today, he didn't have real good sink," Chicago manager Lou Piniella said of Marquis. "Usually when he has good sink, he gets some hard ground balls. He wasn't doing that today."

It didn't matter who was pitching when Nady was at the plate. He struck again in the sixth with a double off Cubs reliever Sean Gallagher that scored Sanchez, who had drawn a one-out walk. It gave Nady 49 RBI for the season.

"What else could you ask of him at this point?" Tracy said.

Sanchez reached base four times, had two RBI and scored twice. The Cubs pulled closer in the eighth when Soriano and Fontenot led off with back-to-back singles, chasing Maholm.

Shawn Chacon came on in relief and walked Lee to load the bases. Ex-Pirate Aramis Ramirez and Mark DeRosa each delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 7-4.