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Correia pitches Pirates past Cubs

May 28, 2011 - 2:37 AM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Kevin Correia threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings to lead the Pirates to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Correia (7-4) gave up only five hits, while fanning two and walking a pair of batters. He becomes the first National League pitcher to reach seven victories this season.

"He had great stuff today," Pirates catcher Chris Snyder said. "His fastball was very, very live and three strikeouts came on the slider, which was good to see for him."

Andrew McCutchen paced the offense with two hits and an RBI as Pittsburgh snapped a three-game skid.

Alfonso Soriano smacked his 12th home run of the year and Carlos Pena had two of the Cubs' five hits.

Doug Davis (0-3) went 4 2/3 innings, giving up four runs -- two earned -- on four hits while walking six and fanning three.

"I'm not going to make any excuses for walking six people, that's for sure," Davis said. "I've been around long enough to know that walking that many guys, against any team, was going to come back to haunt you."

The loss stops the momentum the Cubs had after a 9-3 drubbing of the New York Mets on Thursday.

The ninth inning began with the Pirates comfortably ahead 4-0. Pena began the frame by coaxing a walk from Joe Beimel. Soriano followed by belting his home run to left.

With the Pirates feeling the heat, they turned to closer Joel Hanrahan, and he fanned the next three hitters in Tony Campana, Koyie Hill and pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt to secure his 14th save of the season.

Pittsburgh scored twice in the second inning. Snyder led off with a walk and Lyle Overbay singled sharply to left to place runners on the corners with no outs. Ronny Cedeno then reached on an error by Davis to load the bases Correia then reached safely after third baseman Aramis Ramirez bobbled the ball, which allowed Snyder to score from third. After Jose Tabata struck out, Steve Pearce lifted a sacrifice fly, scoring Overbay.

The Pirates extended their lead in the fourth. Cedeno walked with one out and Tabata walked with two down. Pearce was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and McCutchen followed with a walk to force Cedeno home from third. Neil Walker came up next and reached on an infield single to make it 4-0.

The Cubs threatened in the fourth, putting two men on with one out after Starlin Castro reached on an infield single and Pena blooped a single in front of McCutchen in center. Soriano followed with a fly-out to center and Campana grounded out to second to put out the fire for Pittsburgh.

Chicago threatened again in the eighth. Hill led off with a single to center. After Jeff Baker flew out to right, Kosuke Fukudome worked a walk to put runners on first and second. Darwin Barney then flew out to center and Castro worked a walk to load the bases, but Ramirez popped out to second to end the threat.

Game Notes

Prior to Friday's action, the Cubs selected the contract of pitcher Rodrigo Lopez and optioned Justin Berg to Triple-A Iowa...This was the first of a seven-game road trip for Pittsburgh, which went just 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. Chicago went 0-for-5 with seven left on...Pena has reached base safely in 20 of his last 21 games...The Cubs are 6-12 against NL Central teams...Walker has hit safely in all 13 of his career games against the Cubs.