• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Pirates' Morton aims to keep Cubs in the park

Aug 3, 2011 - 2:36 PM (Sports Network) - Lefty Charlie Morton aims to steady the ship for the Pittsburgh Pirates again tonight when they host the visiting Chicago Cubs in the third contest of a four-game set at PNC Park.

The Cubs have taken the initial two games of the series, pushing the Pirates' losing skid to five in a row and six of seven overall.

The ill-timed slump has dropped Pittsburgh 5 1/2 games off the pace set by the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central and a distant 7 1/2 games in back of the wild card leaders, the Atlanta Braves.

On Tuesday, six home runs, all in the first four innings, propelled the Cubs to an 11-6 victory against the Pirates.

Chicago totaled 21 hits, its most since tallying 23 in an April 2005 game against Arizona. The Cubs also hadn't hit six home runs since September 2006 against Cincinnati, when they chased Reds starter Eric Milton after only one out.

Pittsburgh starter Kevin Correia (12-9) hung around only a little longer Tuesday. He was trying to notch his 13th win of the season, which would have tied him for the National League lead.

But the right-hander didn't come close to getting the victory, giving up four homers and eight runs in two-plus innings. He gave up 10 hits in his shortest start of the year.

It was also Correia's worst start of 2011, as he set season highs in homers and runs allowed. He gave up four homers for the first time since 2003, when he was a rookie.

Alfonso Soriano had two of Chicago's six homers, while Tyler Colvin, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto and Marlon Byrd also went deep as the Cubs' won their third straight following a five-game slide.

Morton, who won five games with Pittsburgh two years ago and was banished to the minors while going 2-12 in 17 starts last season, was 6-2 in 2011 after a 6-3 win over Philadelphia on June 4.

He's been back and forth for nearly every decision since, losing four of six overall, including a 10-3 shellacking by the Phillies on July 29, in which he was chased after allowing eight runs on four innings.

Morton's last win came July 18 in Cincinnati after five shutout innings in a game the Pirates won, 2-0.

He is 2-2 in four career starts against the Cubs with a bloated 7.85 earned run average in 18 1/3 innings.

Chicago counters with hard-throwing righty Matt Garza, who's not won a decision since late June.

The first-year Cub, who came over in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, was 4-6 on the season after a 7-3 defeat of the Colorado Rockies in which he pitched 7 1/3 innings and allowed three runs.

He's 0-2 in six starts since, though he's allowed two runs or less four times and pitched at least seven innings four times.

Garza, in fact, went the nine-inning distance on July 2 against the Chicago White Sox, but was handed a 1-0 loss after allowing just four runs and striking out seven batters in his seventh career complete game.

The 27-year-old Californian got a no-decision in his lone career start against the Pirates.

Pittsburgh has won six of its 11 meetings with the Cubs this season.