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Bay buoys Pirates past Cubs

Jul 8, 2007 - 9:24 PM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Jason Bay broke out of his slump in a big way with a home run and four RBI as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Chicago Cubs, 6-2, on Sunday.

Bay snapped out of a 1-for-24 slump with a two-run homer and a two-run single for the Pirates, who have won five of six games heading into the All-Star break.

The Pirates, who have won nine of 13, completed their homestand 7-3 - including taking five of seven against the top two teams in the National League Central Division.

"We didn't want to put that mush pressure on the homestand and make it a must-win," Bay said. "But we won all the series and the pitching, the defense, everything clicked where we wanted it to be. It will be tough to take these days off, but I don't think anyone's complaining."

Pittsburgh's Shane Youman (2-0) allowed two runs in six innings for the second consecutive outing since being promoted from Class AAA Indianapolis.

On Sunday, the lefthander allowed six hits, walked two and struck out one - numbers similar to those in his debut, a 6-2 win over Milwaukee on Tuesday.

"Shane Youman did a great job for us," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "He's going to throw strikes and make pitches to his spots and get the ball in play. And when you do that, you give yourself a great opportunity."

Shawn Chacon pitched two innings of hitless ball while Matt Capps recorded the final three outs for the Pirates.

In the third, Pittsburgh's Xavier Nady slapped a two-out single to score Nate McLouth and tie the game at 1-1. Bay then belted his first home run since June 22 and 13th of the season, this one to straight-away center to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead.

Pittsburgh added three insurance runs in the eighth on four consecutive singles - the last by Bay, which plated two runs - and a sacrifice fly that scored Freddy Sanchez, Adam LaRoche and Nady.

"I'll feel a little bit better sitting at home on this day than what it could have been," said Bay, who had been hitting only .130 since June 4. "The game will humble you. ... It feels much better with these three or four days off to know I got timely hits, big hits. It's huge for me."

Chicago ace Carlos Zambrano (10-7) allowed three runs and four hits in seven innings, walking three and striking out five. The hefty righthander, who had won five of his six previous starts, retired the last nine batters he faced.

"He gave us seven innings - he pitched well enough," Chicago manager Lou Piniella said. "We just didn't generate too much offense."

Mark DeRosa had two hits and a RBI for Chicago, which dropped two of three at PNC Park this weekend to lose the first of its past five series.

The Cubs scored a run in the second, but Youman limited the damage to what could have been a big inning after Chicago hit three consecutive singles to open the inning.

"Pitching coaches always talk about managing damage, damage control, when you get involved in innings like that," Youman said. "So that was the first thing that came to mind. Damage control, make guys swing the bats, get some outs without too much bad happening."

Angel Pagan's sacrifice fly to right scored Aramis Ramirez, but Youman got Koyie Hill to fly to shallow center and Zambrano to ground to second.

"The key to (Youman's) performance was obviously the second inning," Tracy said. "When he's facing the opponent he was up against (Zambrano), if they do any damage there, we could be in trouble."

After the Cubs loaded the bases, Youman retired 12 of the next 13 hitters until Chicago struck again in the sixth.

DeRosa delivered an RBI double off the right-field wall to score Derrek Lee and cut Chicago's deficit to 3-2.

"We start new in the second half and we're ready for it," said Zambrano, who will pitch consecutive games when the Cubs' season resumes Friday. "I know we can start the second half how we finished the first half."