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Bay makes game-saving catch in ninth as Pirates edge White Sox

Jun 17, 2007 - 10:36 PM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Jason Bay saved the day.Bay robbed Jim Thome of a home run in the ninth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates held on for an 8-7 triumph over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

Nate McLouth had a career-high four RBI for Pittsburgh, which led 8-5, entering the ninth, when closer Matt Capps surrendered two unearned runs. But his left fielder, Bay, robbed Thome of a three-run homer when he reached into the stands for the second out of the inning.

"It went farther than I thought it would," Bay said. "I didn't have it all the way, by any means. The ball traveled a lot further than I expected."

"I think all of us were blowing everything we could to just try and get it out, said Chicago's Josh Fields. "We had a good comeback and maybe next time we'll end up getting that hit at the end of the game and things start turning around."

After Thome, Capps retired Tadahito Iguchi with a flyout to right field for his fifth save. But all Capps wanted to talk about after the game was the game-saver by Bay.

"Off the bat, I didn't think he got it nearly that good, but J-Bay came up there and made a great play right there," Capps said. "It was pretty awesome."

Xavier Nady snapped a 5-5 tie in the seventh with a two-run single off Chicago reliever Nick Masset (2-3). Adam LaRoche contributed a key double in the frame.

That hit made a winner of Shawn Chacon (3-1), who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

On a day when Pittsburgh's bullpen outworked Chicago's, Pirates starter Zach Duke and the White Sox's starter Javier Vazquez each surrendered five earned runs in six innings.

The Pirates started their assault on Vazquez when the first batter he faced, Jose Bautista, blasted a home run off the third level of the left field rotunda. It was Bautista's second homer leading off the Pirates' half of the first this week. He also did it Tuesday against Texas.

The Pirates tacked on two more in the second when Jack Wilson and Duke had back-to-back singles with one out and were knocked home by McLouth's double with two outs, making it 3-0.

The White Sox did all their damage against Duke in the fourth, sending nine men to the plate and scoring five runs on six hits.

Andy Gonzalez led off the inning with a single and was followed by an Iguchi double. Gonzalez then scored on a sacrifice fly by Paul Konerko. Jermaine Dye singled home Iguchi, Luis Terrero singled and Fields hit a ground-rule double, scoring Dye.

Then Juan Uribe knocked home Terrero and Fields with a double of his own, making the score 5-3.

The Pirates came right back in the bottom of the inning with two runs of their own to tie the score. Ronny Paulino led off with a double and was followed by Wilson, who reached on a fielder's choice. Three batters later, McLouth hit his second two-run double of the game to make it 5-5.

McLouth, a seldom-used bench player, came into the game with just two RBI on the season and none since April 22. Sunday's game was only his sixth start of the season.

"You forget how much more relaxing it is and how much you can relax at the plate knowing you're going to get multiple ABs, and I think some of (my success) can be attributed to that," McLouth said. "You've also got to realize that there's got to be guys on base to knock them in. Some people are doing some good things in front of me so I can have that opportunity."

After Duke's rough fourth, he settled down and pitched two perfect innings before exiting for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the sixth.

"I don't know if I was surprised or not (that they left me in after the fourth) but I was happy they did," Duke said. "It gave me a chance to go back out there and get back into rhythm and establish myself again. I was pitching pretty well there and just got a little ahead of myself there (in the fourth) and I wanted to make sure that that was it."

Duke allowed five runs and eight hits with no walks and two strikeouts, while Vazquez surrendered five runs on seven hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.

The Pirates added what would be some much-needed insurance in the eighth, when Wilson singled and was driven home on a double by Bautista. Wilson reached base three times and scored three runs.

Uribe had two hits and two RBI for the White Sox, who have lost 17 out of 21 and finished their six-game road trip 1-5.

"I'm really disappointed in this road trip, a horrible road trip," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "The way we played the last seven days, good teams don't play that way.

"When we score runs, we don't pitch (well); when we pitch (well), we don't score runs. Everything's a mess."