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Nady's three hits help Pirates beat Cubs

May 9, 2007 - 6:43 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Jack Wilson helped the Pittsburgh Pirates overcome some controversial calls and their own offensive woes.

Wilson hit sacrifice flys in the ninth and 15th innings as the Pirates defeated the Chicago Cubs, 4-3, on Tuesday.

The Pirates' offense has sputtered all season, entering the contest 14th in runs (104) and batting (.238) and last in batting with runners in scoring position (.229). It was not much better in this one.

"Offensively we have been turned away an awful lot lately," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "It took everything we had to score four runs tonight."

Ronny Paulino started the 15th inning with a ground single to left field against Neal Cotts (0-1) and advanced to second on a sacrifice attempt by Jose Bautista. First baseman Derrek Lee had Paulino easily at second but his throw sailed into Paulino and hit him.

"I know that Paulino is a very slow base runner," Lee said. "It was a pretty easy play for me, I just blew it."

With Zach Duke pinch hitting, Paulino stole third base and Bautista moved to second on catcher Michael Barrett's throwing error. After Duke struck out, Wilson hit a sacrifice fly to left-center field.

"It was almost the worst game of my career, then I got two nice sacrifice flies to tie and end the game," said Wilson who was 0-for-6, committed an error and could not come up with several other balls. "Both teams played hard to win this game, so I am glad we came out on top."

Pittsburgh closer Salomon Torres worked a perfect 15th for his 10th save. Jonah Bayliss (3-2) worked three scoreless innings with four strikeouts to pick up the win.

"At that point of the game you just go out there and do what you can," Bayliss said. "Most everybody is pretty tired at that point so that took away any normal pressure that I would put on myself in that situation."

Pittsburgh had runners on first and third with no outs in the 12th and did not score, had a runner thrown out at the plate in the 11th and got its first two runners on in the 10th without scoring.

The 12th ended on a double play, where it appeared Jose Castillo beat the throw to first, which cost the Pirates a run. It was the third tough call to against the Pirates.

"Those things happen," said Tracy, who was ejected in the seventh inning. "All you can do is move on and continue to play baseball. What was discouraging is the second case when I got ejected, I thought Daryle Ward was out at second base. It was tough for Tommy (1st base umpire Hallion) to get over in position to make that call at second base."

In the 11th, Soriano threw out Don Kelly at the plate on a one-hop strike after a single by Jason Bay. The left fielder finished with three hits, extending his career high hitting streak to 16 games, and improve to 11-for-20 against Pittsburgh this season.

Soriano's third hit of the game, an RBI single in the seventh, looked like it would hold up for Chicago starter Ted Lilly until Ryan Dempster blew his first save of the season in the ninth.

Nate McLouth started the rally with a one-out walk and advanced to third on a base hit up the middle by Ryan Doumit. Wilson followed by lofting a sacrifice fly to short right field, plating McLouth just ahead of Matt Murton's throw.

The Cubs had runners on second and third with no outs in the eighth but did not score. Lee opened with a single to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and Aramis Ramirez followed with a double.

"We had a plethora of wasted opportunities," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "In the eighth inning I thought we put the game away."

"We fought hard and had a lot of runners on base," Lee said. "We just couldn't get the runners across it was just one of those nights."

Soriano's run-scoring hit in the seventh against Pittsburgh Ian Snell came after an error by Wilson at shortstop and a single by pinch hitter Daryle Ward.

After Soriano's seventh-inning hit, left fielder Bay threw back to second and apparently threw out Ward, who rounded too far around second base, but he was called safe. Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy was ejected after a lengthy argument.

Back in the third inning, Soriano was ruled safe on a close play back in the third when Chicago scored its first run.

Snell yielded three runs - two earned - and 10 hits in seven innings.

Lilly allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings.

The only undefeated team in the majors this month, the Cubs were two win's away from matching the 1930 Cubs' 7-0 start in May, the best in franchise history.

Pittsburgh had a chance to jump on Lilly early, getting a leadoff double by Bay in the second and loading the bases with one out. Paulino then grounded out, plating a run and Snell struck out.

Chicago tied it in the third, when Soriano was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored just ahead of the throw of right fielder Nady on Ryan Theriot's single to right field. After a bloop hit by Nady in the fifth, Paulino doubled to left-center on a ball that tipped off the glove of center fielder Jacque Jones, but the Cubs retied the contest in the bottom half on base hits by Lilly, Soriano and a run-scoring single off the end of the bat to short left by Theriot.