Bay lifts Pirates to walk-off win

PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates know firsthand it takes quite an effort to beat the Chicago Cubs. They just didn't think it would take this long. After losing nine of their first 10 against the Cubs this season, the Bucs needed four hours and 21 minutes -- and 14 innings -- to finally beat the Cubs at home. Jason Bay's one-out single in the bottom of the 14th scored Freddy Sanchez from third to give the Pirates a 5-4 win Saturday night in a game in which the Bucs blew a late lead only to tie it in the bottom of the ninth, before improving to 4-3 in extra innings this season. "It's a big win," starter Phil Dumatrait said after a strong outing that was almost long-forgotten by the time the game ended. "They've pretty much owned us the first 10 games. ... But we never gave up tonight ... we just kept fighting, fighting, and finally got that [winning] run." Bay, who earlier in the contest hit his 12th home run, was credited with his first RBI single all season -- although if it wasn't the final play of the game, it almost assuredly would have been at least a double. Sanchez had reached on an error by shortstop Ryan Theriot, advanced to second on a wild pitch by Michael Wuertz (0-1) and to third on a Luis Rivas groundout. The Cubs intentionally walked Nate McLouth. That was a move to set up a double play, however, and not a preference to face Bay. Bay has reached base safely in nine straight games and was 4-for-6 on Saturday. "My plan was to try to get it in the air, but the pitches weren't really conducive to that," Bay said. "And even the pitch I hit was a fastball down and in, but my thought process was just to get underneath something. I wasn't trying to hit a home run. I was just trying to ht it medium in the outfield. I got the bat on the ball and it worked." Bay was the offensive star in a game that had plenty of other heroes for the Pirates, who had lost four of the previous five. Dumatrait had his best outing since his first career victory May 7. He allowed one run on five hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings, striking out two. Dumatrait was struck just above the right knee by a sharp line drive off the bat of Theriot leading off the sixth. Dumatrait limped and was attended to by Pirates training staff but stayed in the game after making a few warmup pitches. He allowed three of the next four batters to reach, however, loading the bases before being replaced by Franquelis Osoria. Osoria, who had struck out only 12 batters in 32 1/3 previous innings this season, caught Mark DeRosa looking to end the threat on three pitches. When Jason Michaels made it 3-1 the following half-inning by singling home Bay, it looked as if the Bucs would finally break their season-long hex against the Cubs. That promising outlook continued after a 1-2-3 seventh by Damaso Marte. "We were up, 3-1, cruising a little bit," Bay said, "and all of a sudden you have your throat ripped out again." The usually reliable Pirates bullpen had another good showing -- both Matt Capps and John Grabow posted three scoreless innings -- but it didn't look that way at one point, after Tyler Yates was charged with a blown save and nearly cost the Bucs their first defeat when leading after seven innings in 17 tries this season. Aramis Ramirez had a two-run double and Kosuke Fukudome a run-scoring single in the eighth off of Yates to turn a 3-1 Pirates lead into a 4-3 Cubs advantage. "You can't say enough about them not quitting," Bucs manager John Russell said about his team. "They continued to put the pressure on, and believing we could win. I think that's a great attribute of the club that they worked themselves into this position by staying together and battling." The Pirates rallied to tie it in the ninth against Cubs closer Kerry Wood, who blew his fourth save in 14 chances. Pinch-hitters Doug Mientkiewicz (hit by pitch) and Xavier Nady (single) reached to lead off the inning and were moved up a base each on a sacrifice bunt by former National League batting champion Sanchez. Rivas lofted a sacrifice fly to right to score Mientkiewicz, but Bay followed with flyout to deep right to end the inning. "The guys were into it," Russell said. "They were into it on the bench. They were picking each other up a lot. It was outstanding." Mientkiewicz wasn't in the starting lineup due to severe flu-like symptoms, and he had to be summoned from the clubhouse for his at-bat. Because the Pirates were out of position players at that point, he was forced to stay in the game, too. "He was about as sick as you can be," Russell said. "I thought he was going to pass out a couple times on the bench. He gutted it out and played. ... He felt terrible, so I can't say enough about him staying in the game. " The Pirates wouldn't score again for another five innings, but that was OK, because Capps would pitch a career-long three innings (allowing only two hits), and Grabow also tossed three (allowing a hit and two walks). Each was forced to hit for the first time this season, with Capps striking out swinging in the 11th and Grabow being robbed of a single in the hole by Chicago second baseman Ronny Cedeno in the 13th. "What are the odds of both of us throwing three innings and both of us getting an at-bat?" Capps said. "I was laughing, I said, 'At least you put wood on the ball.' He had a good at-bat, and he went out and pitched his butt off." The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Geovany Soto doubled in Derrek Lee, and the Pirates answered in the bottom of the inning with Bay's homer, his 12th, to left-center. Bay has five home runs in his past nine games, and nine of his 12 overall this season have come at PNC Park.

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