• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hill earns first win as Cubs beat Pirates

Apr 18, 2008 - 10:49 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood followed up a solid five innings by starter Rich Hill with dominant outings out of the bullpen as the Chicago Cubs edged the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2, on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.

Marmol, who threw 43 pitches in his two-inning stint, did give up a solo home run by Nate McLouth in the eighth. However, five of the six outs he recorded were strikeouts.

Wood was more economical, needing only six pitches to work a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

"So far, I've been hitting spots and I've had fairly decent location," said Wood, who is adjusting to his new role after numerous injuries derailed his career as a starter. "Getting ahead is huge."

Hill (1-0) recorded his first win of the season, surrendering one run and three hits with three walks and four strikeouts. He departed with a 3-1 lead.

"We wanted to give a young pitcher a chance to win a baseball game," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Our bullpen did just that for him."

Hill, who was making his first start since April 10 after spending last weekend in the bullpen, posted the first win by one of Chicago's two lefthanded starters this season. Prior to Friday, Hill and Ted Lilly were winless in a combined six starts.

In his last start, also against the Pirates, Hill lasted just three innings and surrendered three runs.

"I went out there and stayed aggressive and attacking," Hill said. "The game previous to this one against the same team, I wasn't doing that. It's almost to prove something to yourself, to go out there and pitch like you know how to pitch."

Chicago failed to cash in on several opportunities, going just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Pittsburgh grabbed a 1-0 lead on Xavier Nady's RBI single in the second.

But the Cubs did all their damage against Pirates starter Ian Snell (2-1) in the fourth. Kosuke Fukudome's leadoff triple started the three-run inning.

Snell surrendered four straight hits before recording an out in the fourth, giving up an RBI single to Mark DeRosa, a double to Geovany Soto and another run-scoring base hit to Reed Johnson. Eric Patterson produced the third run with an RBI groundout.

"I thought (Snell) threw the ball pretty well today," Pirates manager John Russell said. "He just had a command problem in one inning. We didn't give him much run support. Scoring runs has been a problem for us lately."

Snell surrendered nine hits in six innings before giving way to Franquelis Osoria, who worked the final two frames for the Pirates.

"I thought my command was better than in my last start," Snell said. "But the Cubs took advantage of the one so-so inning I had."

McLouth's home run extended his hitting streak at the start of the season to 16 games.

"I didn't think my home run was going out," he said. "I certainly wasn't thinking about the hitting streak at that point."

In the third inning, center fielder Johnson robbed McLouth of extra bases with an over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track.

"I was really listening more than anything else," Johnson said. "I knew when he hit the warning track, I still had room to make the catch."