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McLouth's blast lifts Pirates over Soriano, Cubs

May 17, 2008 - 9:49 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Teams are still struggling to get Alfonso Soriano out, but it was Nate McLouth who had the biggest hit of the day.

McLouth hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning Saturday, lifting the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

The Pirates outfielder had three hits, including his 12th home run of the season, and three RBI for Pittsburgh, which ended a 10-game losing streak against Chicago.

"Nate has been great all year. He has swung the bat well and made some good plays on defense," Pirates manager John Russell said. "Today was another of the big home runs he has hit for us this season."

McLouth's blast with one out in the ninth came off Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol (1-1), snapping a 5-5 tie.

The Chicago righthander has allowed two home runs this season - both coming to McLouth.

"Against a guy like him who has electric stuff you can't try to do too much," McLouth said. "Today, I just got the first fastball he threw and I didn't miss it."

Soriano continued his torrid homestand with two solo home runs to pace Chicago's offense. The outfielder went 5-for-5 with three RBI and has seven home runs in his last six contests.

He has had a multi-hit game in his last eight starts and is 19-for-33 over that span.

"Yes, I feel hot right now," Soriano said. "I am just swinging at strikes and hitting the ball very hard."

The Cubs took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second as Soriano broke a tie with an RBI single to left field. Reed Johnson also scored on the play thanks to an error by left fielder Jason Bay.

After Pittsburgh scored a run in the top of the fourth, the Cubs regained their two-run lead when Soriano blasted a solo home run to left in the bottom half of the fourth.

"He (Soriano) is locked in right now, you can throw him a pitch in any location and he will hit it hard somewhere," Pirates starter Zach Duke said. "At least we came out on top, it shows that it takes more than one guy to win a game."

But the Pirates responded in the fifth, scoring three runs and knocking out Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano.

The first five batters reached on a pair of walks and three singles, the last by Adam LaRoche, whose RBI single tied the game at 4-4 and ended the day for Zambrano. Xavier Nady then hit a sacrifice fly to right off reliever Michael Wuertz to give Pittsburgh the lead.

It was the shortest outing of the season for Zambrano, who allowed five runs - four earned - and seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts in four-plus innings.

"Today was not a good outing for me," Zambrano said. "When you have 34-35 starts over a season you have days like this. All you can do is hold your head high and move on."

Pittsburgh maintained its one-run edge until the bottom of the seventh when Soriano blasted his second home run of the day, this one off reliever Tyler Yates on a 1-0 pitch to make the score 5-5.

After Pittsburgh took the lead in the ninth, Chicago cut the deficit to 7-6 when Soriano doubled and scored on Ryan Theriot's RBI single with two outs. But Matt Capps got Derrek Lee to fly out to right-center field, securing his 10th save.

It was the the Pirates' first win in eight tries this season against the Cubs.

"It's nice to beat them but we have to concentrate on winning games everyday," Russell said. "It's not a curse or anything, they have just played good baseball against us."